OFWs appeal to Kuwait ruler for condemned Filipina

MANILA, Philippines -- A leftwing group of migrant workers said Thursday it has begun circulating in Filipino communities overseas a letter to the Emir of Kuwait imploring him to spare the life of May Vecina, a domestic worker whose death sentence was recently upheld by the Kuwaiti Supreme Court.

Migrante International’s Middle East chapter said it came out with the letter to appeal to the compassion Emir Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to commute Vecina’s sentence.

The group recalled the Emir’s kindness in commuting the death sentence on Marilou Ranario, another domestic convicted of murdering her employer.

“Vecina is married with two young children living in the Philippines. She was forced to leave her family and children to help support them financially. We fervently hope that this (commutation of Ranario’s sentence) could be duplicated in the case of May Vecina and we would be most grateful for this," said the letter, a copy of which was e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer from Riyadh.

The group also came out with a second letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ask the Philippine government to “exhaust all possible means” to save Vecina.

About a dozen Filipino community organizations and workers groups in the Middle East and Hong Kong have signed the petition, according to John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator based in Riyadh.

On April 1, the Supreme Court of Kuwait upheld the death sentence on Vecina, who was convicted of killing her employer's seven year old son and attempting to murder the victim’s two other children last year. Vecina has two young children of her own aged 2 and 6 respectively.

Local newspaper reports in Kuwait indicated that she was mistreated by her employer and on the day of the killing reacted violently to insults from members of her employer’s family.

Monterona said in an e-mail message that domestic helpers in Kuwait are subjected to a lot of work-related stress and this may make them commit crimes at the spur of the moment.

He cited a study made by the Social Work Society of Kuwait, a nongovernment organizations, on an unspecified number of foreign domestic workers in the emirate during the last quarter of 2005.

The study showed that 47.1 percent of the maids faced problems which included abusive and vile words, overworking, less time for sleep, beating, accusations of stealing, and accusations of revealing employer family secrets.

Migrante-Mideast said overseas Filipino workers and other migrant groups may obtain copies of the petition through e-mail at migranteme@yahoo.com

Among the signatories to the two petitions were members of Migrante chapters in Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and the Saudi Arabian cities of Jeddah and Riyadh; the Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, Abra Tingguian Ilocano Society, Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Hong Kong, Bethune House Migrants Women's Refuge and Mission for Migrant Workers.

Meanwhile, Migrante and other migrant workers groups deplored Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s proposal that OFWs in Kuwait contribute for the blood money to pay for the Vecina’s release.

Monterona said that while Migrante and fellow OFWs were “ever willing” to extend help to raise money for Vecina, despite being cash-strapped themselves, Gonzalez’s statement “implies to evade and to pass upon us and fellow OFWs the burden of state responsibility for protecting and providing assistance to OFWs in death row, jailed, stranded and distressed alike.”

“The Arroyo administration is obviously feeling the pressure now from the almost 10 million OFWs and their families who will resolutely campaign to compel this administration to do its job conscientiously and earnestly to save the life of Vecina and other 25 OFWs who are on a death row,” Monterona added.

Monterona said that if the President Arroyo could afford to spend millions of pesos in taxpayers money on her trips abroad, then there was no reason why the government should itself provide the blood money needed to save Vecina’s life. - Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 03, 2008