A
Boholana maid forced to labor like a beast in Jordan has been rescued by Rep. Edgar Chatto while another migrant worker, this time a Boholano engineer in Saudi Arabia, is haunted by the fear of death.
Ruvelyn Neozenia Fuertes of San Vicente, Dagohoy finally returned home the other Friday after over 10 months of suffering while serving her employer, a married Jordanian woman, and two "extra masters" who were the mother and youngest sister of her employer.
She had ran away from them as early as mid-April last year and had been in the custody of the POLO-OWWA office in Amman, Jordan until Chatto, who learned her fate just lately, moved for her safe return.
Fuertes, 28, married, was supposed to work in a salon but forced to serve as the maid of the three Jordanian women, shifting overloaded duties in three separate residences from early morning to past midnight.
Apart from physical pain, the overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who is an AB-English undergraduate, could feel her human dignity wounded since even her masters' children would spit onto her face.
In the case of the OFW engineer, the fear of death is haunting him following his promotion which might have caused his fellow migrant workers, many of whom from Nepal, to get overjealous. He has other foreign national co-workers, including Arabs themselves.
The overseas worker, a geodetic engineer also from a Second District locality like the Dagohoy hometown of OFW Fuertes, could no longer sleep and has lost apetite because of mental anguish, emotional anxiety and psychological torture, according to his wife and mother-in-law.
His loved ones said he has suffered nervous breakdown after hearing talks that some envious co-workers would frame him which could likely endanger his very life. He is the only Filipino in their batch and they are often assigned to the fields.
The OFW sounded to his project superior his fear but he was merely told to stay because a fellow Filipino would be assigned with him but by March or second quarter of this year yet, according to his wife.
His worried wife and mother-in-law sought help from the office of Rep. Edgar Chatto because the OFW decided to better leave Saudi and get back home. The engineer is yet seven months in his foreign job.
The OFW's wife, who is pregnant of their third child, asked to withhold their identities yet, including her husband's.
BAD OMEN ON VERY FIRST DAY
In the case of OFW Fuertes, "bad omen" struck her right during her interview by the Jordanian owner of the recruitment agency on her first day in Jordan. She was shocked when told that what she had submitted was not her own biodata.
Fuertes was then told she would work as a domestic helper or housemaid and not a salon worker for which she applied.
When she insisted that her papers were genuine and asked why she would work in a job which she did not apply for, the male owner of the recruitment agency scolded her while clasping her face.
Fuertes was recruited, by direct hiring, to work in a salon by her husband's female cousin working in Jordan and who happened to be a lover of the agency owner, according to the OFW herself and her husband Rufino in an interview yesterday.
Her cousin personally witnessed when the Jordanian harmed her but she did not defend her.
Fuertes was thus forced to work, in three shifts from early morning to past midnight with late meals, in the houses of her female employer, her mother and sister. Her last two masters never paid her.
The Boholana maid could no longer bear the abuses so that she ran away on April 16, 2009---or in her 10 and a half month of maltreatment and grave work---and sought refuge at POLO-OWWA in Amman, Jordan until Chatto rescued her.
She left her things and belongings in the houses of her three "employers." She still has an unclaimed one-month salary of $200, a low pay to an OFW overworked by three masters.
For Fuertes' safe return, his husband, who is a farmer, just lately sought help from Dagohoy Kag. Yong Mayol who, in turn, asked assistance from Chatto thru Board Member Alfonso Damalerio II.
The OFW and her husband thanked Chatto for her repatriation all the way from Jordan to Bohol without spending a cent. The couple said they would always treasure Chatto's effort and kindness. (Ven rebo Arigo)
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=24789.0