MIGRANT WATCH

500 Distressed Female OFWs Languishing in Kuwait

Filipino domestic raped by 3 Kuwaiti cops

Mena (not her real name) left her native province of Cotabato for Kuwait to work as a domestic. But before her contract expired, she ran away due to maltreatment by her Kuwaiti employer. When she sought assistance from the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, Welfare Officer Luz Talento and Labor Attaché Angelo Jimenez reportedly turned her over to the Kuwaiti police, even though her employer had not filed a case against her. Three members of the Kuwaiti police then took turns in raping her, it was reported.

BY CAESAR BEN BASAN A. BAROÑA

Bulatlat.com

Mena (not her real name) left her native province of Cotabato for Kuwait to work as a domestic years back. But before her contract expired, she left her job to escape maltreatment by her Kuwaiti employer. When she sought assistance from the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, Welfare Officer Luz Talento and Labor Attaché Angelo Jimenez reportedly turned her over to the Kuwaiti police instead, even if her employer had not filed a case against her. Three members of the Kuwaiti police then took turns in raping her, it was reported. 

Mena is just one of the 500 distressed Filipino women in Kuwait today. 

In a news conference last June 16 in Quezon City, the Migrante Sectoral Party (MSP) singled out Kuwait as another Middle East diplomatic post that is "contributing to the Macapagal-Arroyo government's anti-OFW image worldwide."

According to Migrante, more than 500 Filipinas with various cases of maltreatment are reportedly languishing in the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in Kuwait, indubitably with an information blackout by the Philippine embassy in that country. FWRC refugees were only able to reveal the plight of the Filipinas in the center through cellular communications.

Migrante Vice Chairperson John Monterona asked: "How can Ambassador Bayani Mangibin, Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert, acting Labor chief Manuel Imson and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo explain the 500 distressed female OFWs languishing at the FWRC in Kuwait?" 

In the news conference, Monterona scored the Philippine mission based in Kuwait City, the capital, and Mangibin for "not doing anything to address the worst forms of physical maltreatment Filipina domestics are caught subjected to, including at least one case of gang rape."

Monterona was referring to cases like that of Mena and Liezel Gustilo, another domestic helper in Kuwait.

Maltreatment, unpaid salaries, rape, extended stay

Liezel Gustilo, a single parent with a three-year-old son, from Hinigaran, Negros Occidental fled from her abusive Kuwaiti employer Laila Al-Hindol, where she worked as a domestic until May 2004. Only 22, Gustilo is now in the custody of Welfare Officer Luz Talento at the FWRC, a facility administered by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Meanwhile, as with other cases of abused OFWs, Mena has yet to obtain justice.

She has been staying at the FWRC for nine months now because the embassy’s welfare officer and labor attaché have not processed her repatriation.

Deliberate impotence

"Mena's story is not an isolated case of government neglect, particularly of women OFWs' welfare," lamented Gabriela Secretary General Emmi de Jesus. "The fact that Mena sought the help of the Philippine Embassy is proof of her desperation. But instead of being her 'savior,' the Embassy staff even pushed her to her doom."

De Jesus said that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was placed on the defensive when the Philippine ambassador to Lebanon resigned following the successive deaths of three OFWs. “The case of Mena would surely deal another blow to the said government agency," she said.

"For the DFA, an OFW is worth only in dollar remittances. Once this value is expended, the OFW loses her worth. Such is the reality in a desperately impoverished society with a corrupt and bankrupt government," de Jesus continued.

Investigate, protest and repatriate

Migrante has called for an independent investigation on the DFA and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE). The group also demanded that Malacañang – the presidential office - immediately file a diplomatic protest, pursue cases against the rapists and expedite the immediate repatriation of the 500 distressed OFWs stranded in Kuwait.

Government statistics reveal that five million of the Philippine labor force is jobless. Such a state of unemployment makes overseas work an attractive option for many Filipinos. It is also a declared policy of the Arroyo administration to continue promoting overseas work, fraught as it is with hazards and lack or non-existence of government protection.

Remittances processed in official bank-to bank transactions totaled $1.9 bn for the first quarter (January-March) of this year compared to $1.8 bn in the same period in 2003. Many Filipino women do overseas work as domestics to help their families in the Philippines.

But given the dangers of migrant work, Gabriela's de Jesus asks: "How many more OFWs will be abused, raped or even killed before Mrs. Arroyo acts on their plight? Being an OFW and a woman is grueling enough. The Arroyo government's indifference and neglect add to their already burdened life. The worsening plight of women OFWs only proves that Mrs. Arroyo does not deserve another mandate for presidency." Bulatlat.com

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