By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: November 08, 2009
MANILA, Philippines -- About 100 overseas Filipino workers languishing in a deportation jail in Doha, Qatar, have urged the government to work for their speedy repatriation so that they could be reunited with their families in time for the holiday season.
The OFW alliance Migrante-Middle East said the Filipinos were neglected by the Philippine diplomatic and labor officials Qatar, even after the workers nearly died in a fire that broke out at the jail on Oct. 18.
John Leonard Monterona, the Saudi Arabia-based regional coordinator of the Migrante-Mideast, said he was in touch with one of the OFWs, Nelly (not her real name) who recounted how she and the other Filipinos got the scare of their lives when they found themselves trapped inside the jail during the morning fire.
“They helped one another destroy the six-inch-thick padlocks, and so were able to rush out of their cells,” Monterona said, adding that the fire was put out by authorities and no one was hurt.
“If not for our will and collective action, we would have been burned alive,” he quoted Nelly as saying. Nelly is a domestic helper who ran away from her abusive employer.
Nelly was finally repatriated last week but she told Migrante that about 100 more Filipinos were still staying at the detention center. Monterona said he got the names of 52 of the detainees together with their case numbers and asked the Philippine Embassy’s assistance to nationals unit, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to look after the Filipinos.
“We already sent an official letter inquiring into the status of the cases of the 52 OFWs and the others who were stranded, urging the embassy to fast track the resolution of the cases so that they could be sent home and they could spend Christmas with their loved ones,” Monterona said.
He said many of the detainees have been languishing at the deportation center for three to six months.
“Just like in other deportation centers, our fellow OFWs stranded in Doha deportation center have been neglected. No visitation, no assistance and no welfare services were given to them while inside the deportation center even after the fire broke out,” Monterona said.
One OFW inside the Doha deportation center is about three-months pregnant, according to Monterona.
Showing posts with label Jailed OFWs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jailed OFWs. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
183 Pinoys in China’s jails for drug trafficking
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Embassy in China has expressed serious concern over the increasing number of Filipino “drug mules” carrying illegal drugs into China despite repeated warnings by the Philippine government.
Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Cataumber Brady told members of the Filipino community during their recent Christmas party in Beijing that Chinese syndicates continued to entice Filipinos with promises of money to smuggle dangerous and prohibited drugs into China.
“Despite repeated warnings by the Philippine government, our kababayan (countrymen) continue to be victimized by the syndicates with wide network operations in various parts of Asia,” Brady said.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs last week, Brady said that since 2007, 48 Filipinos have been meted out the death penalty while 26 others received life sentences for carrying illegal drugs into China.
Currently, 183 Filipinos, mostly women, are languishing in jails throughout China on drug trafficking charges, according to Brady.
Brady urged Filipinos to resist any offers of financial rewards from drug gangs to carry prohibited drugs into China or any other country in the world.
Of those arrested in 2009, seven were meted out the death penalty, seven were given life sentences, while five received sentences of at least 15 years’ imprisonment.
In 2008, 111 Filipinos, most of them women, were arrested for drug-related offenses in China, Hong Kong and Macau, a 594-percent increase over the 16 Filipinos arrested in 2007.
Brady reminded Filipino travelers that China has been strictly imposing tough penalties on persons caught in possession of prohibited or dangerous drugs.
“In China, drug trafficking of 50 grams or more of highly dangerous drugs like heroin may be punishable by 15 years in prison, life imprisonment or death,” Brady said.
She said that all those arrested were caught with illegal drugs on their person or luggage, allegedly given to them by “friends” they met in transit or in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam.
They said they were given air tickets and pocket money to travel to Hong Kong, Macau or China, with the promise that they would be paid $500 more upon delivery of the drugs to a contact at their destination.
Recently, some of those arrested for possession of illegal drugs had come directly from Manila. - Cynthia Balana, Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 20, 2009
Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Cataumber Brady told members of the Filipino community during their recent Christmas party in Beijing that Chinese syndicates continued to entice Filipinos with promises of money to smuggle dangerous and prohibited drugs into China.
“Despite repeated warnings by the Philippine government, our kababayan (countrymen) continue to be victimized by the syndicates with wide network operations in various parts of Asia,” Brady said.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs last week, Brady said that since 2007, 48 Filipinos have been meted out the death penalty while 26 others received life sentences for carrying illegal drugs into China.
Currently, 183 Filipinos, mostly women, are languishing in jails throughout China on drug trafficking charges, according to Brady.
Brady urged Filipinos to resist any offers of financial rewards from drug gangs to carry prohibited drugs into China or any other country in the world.
Of those arrested in 2009, seven were meted out the death penalty, seven were given life sentences, while five received sentences of at least 15 years’ imprisonment.
In 2008, 111 Filipinos, most of them women, were arrested for drug-related offenses in China, Hong Kong and Macau, a 594-percent increase over the 16 Filipinos arrested in 2007.
Brady reminded Filipino travelers that China has been strictly imposing tough penalties on persons caught in possession of prohibited or dangerous drugs.
“In China, drug trafficking of 50 grams or more of highly dangerous drugs like heroin may be punishable by 15 years in prison, life imprisonment or death,” Brady said.
She said that all those arrested were caught with illegal drugs on their person or luggage, allegedly given to them by “friends” they met in transit or in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Laos and Vietnam.
They said they were given air tickets and pocket money to travel to Hong Kong, Macau or China, with the promise that they would be paid $500 more upon delivery of the drugs to a contact at their destination.
Recently, some of those arrested for possession of illegal drugs had come directly from Manila. - Cynthia Balana, Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 20, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
OFW spouses accuse each other of murdering maid
MANILA, Philippines--A Filipino couple in Saudi Arabia have accused each other of killing their Filipino maid after a family squabble, and they are now in jail.
Their three children, ages 2, 3, and 5, are now the focus of government efforts, according to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary on Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr.
He said the Philippine embassy in Riyadh has asked the Saudi authorities if it could take custody of the couple's minor children.
Conejos said his office has received reports of the couple's detention only December 8, and thus far, no charge has been filed against either of them.
It is unlikely that they would be beheaded today, three days after, as reported by the migrants group Migrante Friday in e-mail to media outfits.
The DFA is keeping all the names of the concerned individuals confidential.
According to an INQUIRER.net source in government, the maid was killed two years ago, but it has not been established who between the husband and wife was the perpetrator.
The spouses allegedly planned to dispose of the body in the desert but they changed their mind and instead chopped her up and buried her under the floor of their house.
The murder surfaced when the couple showed up at a Saudi police station pointing at each other as the murderer. Police went to their house and found the maid's body.
The maid had been missing for two years.- INQUIRER.net, December 11, 2009
Their three children, ages 2, 3, and 5, are now the focus of government efforts, according to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary on Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr.
He said the Philippine embassy in Riyadh has asked the Saudi authorities if it could take custody of the couple's minor children.
Conejos said his office has received reports of the couple's detention only December 8, and thus far, no charge has been filed against either of them.
It is unlikely that they would be beheaded today, three days after, as reported by the migrants group Migrante Friday in e-mail to media outfits.
The DFA is keeping all the names of the concerned individuals confidential.
According to an INQUIRER.net source in government, the maid was killed two years ago, but it has not been established who between the husband and wife was the perpetrator.
The spouses allegedly planned to dispose of the body in the desert but they changed their mind and instead chopped her up and buried her under the floor of their house.
The murder surfaced when the couple showed up at a Saudi police station pointing at each other as the murderer. Police went to their house and found the maid's body.
The maid had been missing for two years.- INQUIRER.net, December 11, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
No rape of OFW in Dubai, says UAE authorities
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: June 03, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipina overseas worker in Dubai who alleged that she was raped by an intruder in her employer’s residence last month was not raped, according to police authorities in United Arab Emirates.
The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai said findings by UAE police investigators showed that the Filipina’s alleged intruder, an Indian national, was actually her boyfriend.
In a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs, UAE authorities were quoted as saying that a thorough investigation of the incident and its circumstances indicates that the relationship between the unnamed intruder and the Filipina was intimate and the alleged incident consensual.
Both were jailed for one month in Dubai on charges of immorality and will be sent back to their respective countries.
The consulate said it will continue representations with UAE authorities for the release and repatriation of the Filipina within the month.
Posted date: June 03, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—The Filipina overseas worker in Dubai who alleged that she was raped by an intruder in her employer’s residence last month was not raped, according to police authorities in United Arab Emirates.
The Philippine Consulate General in Dubai said findings by UAE police investigators showed that the Filipina’s alleged intruder, an Indian national, was actually her boyfriend.
In a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs, UAE authorities were quoted as saying that a thorough investigation of the incident and its circumstances indicates that the relationship between the unnamed intruder and the Filipina was intimate and the alleged incident consensual.
Both were jailed for one month in Dubai on charges of immorality and will be sent back to their respective countries.
The consulate said it will continue representations with UAE authorities for the release and repatriation of the Filipina within the month.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saudi police nab Filipino maid
Arab News and INQUIRER.NET
Posted date: January 28, 2009
JEDDAH—Saudi police arrested a Filipina housemaid who allegedly stole cash and jewelry worth SR180,000 from her employer in the eastern province before fleeing here.
The Filipina traveled to the city by road avoiding checkpoints, said Jeddah police spokesman Colonel Misfar Al-Juaid.
“She traveled by different cars and buses hoping police would not find her. She hoped to find a job in Jeddah as a housemaid and planned to go back to the Philippines at the first opportunity,” he said.
“Detectives investigating the case traced her here,” he said, adding the woman was given shelter by her compatriots in the city.
He said the woman “confessed that she stole the valuables and cash from her employer’s house while the family was out to attend a function.”
Posted date: January 28, 2009
JEDDAH—Saudi police arrested a Filipina housemaid who allegedly stole cash and jewelry worth SR180,000 from her employer in the eastern province before fleeing here.
The Filipina traveled to the city by road avoiding checkpoints, said Jeddah police spokesman Colonel Misfar Al-Juaid.
“She traveled by different cars and buses hoping police would not find her. She hoped to find a job in Jeddah as a housemaid and planned to go back to the Philippines at the first opportunity,” he said.
“Detectives investigating the case traced her here,” he said, adding the woman was given shelter by her compatriots in the city.
He said the woman “confessed that she stole the valuables and cash from her employer’s house while the family was out to attend a function.”
Saudi religious police arrest Filipina nurse, male colleague
Arab News
Posted date: May 01, 2008
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia’s religious police have arrested a Filipina nurse for sitting in a restaurant with a male colleague, a Philippine diplomat said.
Abigail Valdez, a nurse who works at the Riyadh Military Hospital, is being held at Al-Malaz Prison on charges of “immorality,” Philippine Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor told Arab News.
Villamor said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh was trying to gain access to Valdez, who was arrested by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Monday evening for being with an unrelated man, a taboo in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom.
But Vice Consul Gerardo P. Abiog, who is in charge of the embassy’s Assistance to Nationals Section, said Filipino embassy officials who went to see Valdez were denied access by Saudi authorities.
“She would be released if the hospital (where she works) intervenes. She’s still in jail,” said Abiog, adding that prison authorities said they needed the approval of senior authorities.
“In the past, Riyadh Military Hospital has not intervened in such a case, saying the legal system should prevail,” he said. “I don’t think she has been allowed contact with anyone. Even we at the embassy are having difficulty trying to see and talk to her.”
The embassy official said that in such cases, it first investigates the incident and then tries talking to the person’s employer to get them bail out the individual. “However, we cannot force the employer if they do not want to act,” Abiog said.
Unrelated men and women caught dining at a Saudi restaurant would normally be sentenced to four months in jail and 100 lashes. The same punishment applies to a man and a woman caught in a state of seclusion (khulwa).
Women in Saudi Arabia, which applies a rigorous doctrine of Islam known as Wahhabism, face a host of constraints, including a ban on driving. They are forced to cover from head to toe in public, and cannot mix with men other than relatives or travel without written permission from their male guardian.
Valdez’s male colleague, who is of a Western nationality, was released several hours after being taken to a commission center and then to a police station. The man, who asked his name not be published, had his feet shackled when he resisted arrest.
“I am not going to play stupid here,” he told Arab News when asked about his knowledge of the Kingdom’s rules.
“Every country in the world allows access to a legal representative once arresting procedures take place. Here you can get arrested and thrown into jail without anyone knowing,” he said.
He added that with shackles on his feet the commission members forced him out of the restaurant by his belt and into a vehicle, without being shown any identity or an opportunity to contact a lawyer.
“At one point, I even told other Westerners in the restaurant whether they could believe what was happening to me as I was in shackles, but none of them cared to even look me in the eye,” he added.
The man said he was separated from the Filipino nurse once they reached the commission’s center. “She sent me a text message from her phone saying she was being taken to Al-Malaz Prison and that she was freaking out. That was the last I heard from her,” he said.
He added that Valdez did not deserve such treatment, especially since she had been treating Saudis for over a decade.
“She is a person who has served your own Saudi mothers and fathers for over 12 years,” he said. “She doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.”
In February, a businesswoman was detained and strip-searched by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop with an unrelated man.
The incident came just days after a UN report blasted the Muslim kingdom for widespread discrimination against women and as a UN expert on women's rights began a visit to the country.
Saudi Arabia's 5,000-strong religious police have recently been investigated over a number of deaths that occurred while they raided homes or kept people in custody. Raid Qusti, Arab News with INQUIRER.net, and Agence France-Presse
Posted date: May 01, 2008
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia’s religious police have arrested a Filipina nurse for sitting in a restaurant with a male colleague, a Philippine diplomat said.
Abigail Valdez, a nurse who works at the Riyadh Military Hospital, is being held at Al-Malaz Prison on charges of “immorality,” Philippine Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor told Arab News.
Villamor said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh was trying to gain access to Valdez, who was arrested by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on Monday evening for being with an unrelated man, a taboo in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom.
But Vice Consul Gerardo P. Abiog, who is in charge of the embassy’s Assistance to Nationals Section, said Filipino embassy officials who went to see Valdez were denied access by Saudi authorities.
“She would be released if the hospital (where she works) intervenes. She’s still in jail,” said Abiog, adding that prison authorities said they needed the approval of senior authorities.
“In the past, Riyadh Military Hospital has not intervened in such a case, saying the legal system should prevail,” he said. “I don’t think she has been allowed contact with anyone. Even we at the embassy are having difficulty trying to see and talk to her.”
The embassy official said that in such cases, it first investigates the incident and then tries talking to the person’s employer to get them bail out the individual. “However, we cannot force the employer if they do not want to act,” Abiog said.
Unrelated men and women caught dining at a Saudi restaurant would normally be sentenced to four months in jail and 100 lashes. The same punishment applies to a man and a woman caught in a state of seclusion (khulwa).
Women in Saudi Arabia, which applies a rigorous doctrine of Islam known as Wahhabism, face a host of constraints, including a ban on driving. They are forced to cover from head to toe in public, and cannot mix with men other than relatives or travel without written permission from their male guardian.
Valdez’s male colleague, who is of a Western nationality, was released several hours after being taken to a commission center and then to a police station. The man, who asked his name not be published, had his feet shackled when he resisted arrest.
“I am not going to play stupid here,” he told Arab News when asked about his knowledge of the Kingdom’s rules.
“Every country in the world allows access to a legal representative once arresting procedures take place. Here you can get arrested and thrown into jail without anyone knowing,” he said.
He added that with shackles on his feet the commission members forced him out of the restaurant by his belt and into a vehicle, without being shown any identity or an opportunity to contact a lawyer.
“At one point, I even told other Westerners in the restaurant whether they could believe what was happening to me as I was in shackles, but none of them cared to even look me in the eye,” he added.
The man said he was separated from the Filipino nurse once they reached the commission’s center. “She sent me a text message from her phone saying she was being taken to Al-Malaz Prison and that she was freaking out. That was the last I heard from her,” he said.
He added that Valdez did not deserve such treatment, especially since she had been treating Saudis for over a decade.
“She is a person who has served your own Saudi mothers and fathers for over 12 years,” he said. “She doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.”
In February, a businesswoman was detained and strip-searched by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop with an unrelated man.
The incident came just days after a UN report blasted the Muslim kingdom for widespread discrimination against women and as a UN expert on women's rights began a visit to the country.
Saudi Arabia's 5,000-strong religious police have recently been investigated over a number of deaths that occurred while they raided homes or kept people in custody. Raid Qusti, Arab News with INQUIRER.net, and Agence France-Presse
Monday, May 25, 2009
Woman in prison over rape claim
Ramona Ruiz
Last Updated: May 24. 2009 8:20PM UAE / May 24. 2009 4:20PM GMT
ABU DHABI // A migrant rights group has repeated its call to the Philippine government to send legal attachés to the Middle East after a Filipina who complained of rape ended up in an Ajman prison on adultery charges.
John Leonard Monterona, the Middle East co-ordinator for Migrante, a Filipino migrant rights group, said the woman, identified as WC, was due in court for a second hearing today, but that the Philippine consulate in Dubai had so far failed to provide a lawyer for her.
“The absence of a legal counsel during her trial may lead to a conviction or her prolonged imprisonment,” Mr Monterona said.
The case was brought to the attention of Migrante by WC’s husband, still in the Philippines, who wrote to the group this month, worried that he had not heard from his wife since April 7.
WC, who had arrived in Dubai on March 27 to take up a position as a hotel chambermaid, had wanted to return home when she was made to work as a housemaid instead.
The husband was told by the recruitment agency on April 27 that his wife had made the allegation of rape, but had been “jailed for lying” after a medical examination proved negative for the alleged assault.
On the same day, the husband received a phone call from his wife, who told him that she had been raped.
Mr Monterona, however, said Migrante had no information yet about the identity of the man involved or the date when the alleged attack took place.
Officials from Ajman police confirmed the case and said they had already referred WC to the public prosecutor.
She remains in police custody. The officials, however, declined to provide further details since the case was now being dealt with by the criminal courts.
Ahmed Bajunaid, the head of the assistance to nationals section at the consulate in Dubai, said initial reports showed that the Filipina had admitted to allowing an Indian man to enter her room. He said the man was now in jail on trespassing charges.
Between 200 and 300 Filipinos are behind bars in Dubai and the northern Emirates, according to Mr Bajunaid. They include people convicted of theft, as well as drugs and immigration offences. Others have been jailed for bad debts.
Last month Migrante and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants in Hong Kong asked Manila to supply legal attachés in the Middle East to ensure that Filipinos appearing in court were represented.
Repeating the call, Mr Monterona said that while his organisation welcomed a decision to deploy social welfare attachés in the Middle East next month, Manila should consider sending legal attachés first. About 500 Filipinos were behind bars in the Middle East, with at least 16 on death row.
“It makes a difference being accompanied by someone with legal knowledge and expertise on Sharia,” he said.
Nasser Munder, the Philippine labour attaché in Abu Dhabi, said 136 Filipinas, mostly housemaids, were being counselled at the Abu Dhabi shelter run by Filipino labour and welfare officers. They had fled their employers after complaining of mistreatment, overwork and not being paid.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Manila will send the first batch of social welfare attachés to Saudi Arabia and Jordan in June. It is not known when they will be posted to the UAE.
rruiz@thenational.ae
With additional reporting by Yasin Kakande
Last Updated: May 24. 2009 8:20PM UAE / May 24. 2009 4:20PM GMT
ABU DHABI // A migrant rights group has repeated its call to the Philippine government to send legal attachés to the Middle East after a Filipina who complained of rape ended up in an Ajman prison on adultery charges.
John Leonard Monterona, the Middle East co-ordinator for Migrante, a Filipino migrant rights group, said the woman, identified as WC, was due in court for a second hearing today, but that the Philippine consulate in Dubai had so far failed to provide a lawyer for her.
“The absence of a legal counsel during her trial may lead to a conviction or her prolonged imprisonment,” Mr Monterona said.
The case was brought to the attention of Migrante by WC’s husband, still in the Philippines, who wrote to the group this month, worried that he had not heard from his wife since April 7.
WC, who had arrived in Dubai on March 27 to take up a position as a hotel chambermaid, had wanted to return home when she was made to work as a housemaid instead.
The husband was told by the recruitment agency on April 27 that his wife had made the allegation of rape, but had been “jailed for lying” after a medical examination proved negative for the alleged assault.
On the same day, the husband received a phone call from his wife, who told him that she had been raped.
Mr Monterona, however, said Migrante had no information yet about the identity of the man involved or the date when the alleged attack took place.
Officials from Ajman police confirmed the case and said they had already referred WC to the public prosecutor.
She remains in police custody. The officials, however, declined to provide further details since the case was now being dealt with by the criminal courts.
Ahmed Bajunaid, the head of the assistance to nationals section at the consulate in Dubai, said initial reports showed that the Filipina had admitted to allowing an Indian man to enter her room. He said the man was now in jail on trespassing charges.
Between 200 and 300 Filipinos are behind bars in Dubai and the northern Emirates, according to Mr Bajunaid. They include people convicted of theft, as well as drugs and immigration offences. Others have been jailed for bad debts.
Last month Migrante and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants in Hong Kong asked Manila to supply legal attachés in the Middle East to ensure that Filipinos appearing in court were represented.
Repeating the call, Mr Monterona said that while his organisation welcomed a decision to deploy social welfare attachés in the Middle East next month, Manila should consider sending legal attachés first. About 500 Filipinos were behind bars in the Middle East, with at least 16 on death row.
“It makes a difference being accompanied by someone with legal knowledge and expertise on Sharia,” he said.
Nasser Munder, the Philippine labour attaché in Abu Dhabi, said 136 Filipinas, mostly housemaids, were being counselled at the Abu Dhabi shelter run by Filipino labour and welfare officers. They had fled their employers after complaining of mistreatment, overwork and not being paid.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Manila will send the first batch of social welfare attachés to Saudi Arabia and Jordan in June. It is not known when they will be posted to the UAE.
rruiz@thenational.ae
With additional reporting by Yasin Kakande
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Pinay held captive by UAE employment firm returns home
KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV
May 19, 2009
MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina worker who was once held like a prisoner by her employment firm in the United Arab Emirates has finally returned to the Philippines.
Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Maria Caridad “Maricar" Evangelista Laganzo arrived in Manila via Gulf Air on Monday at 11:10 a.m.
Laganzo went to Dubai in October 2007 to work as a domestic helper but was reportedly maltreated by her employer who threw a chair at her, denied her proper wages, and even threatened to send her to jail.
But after several media people took interest in the plight of the 35-year-old OFW, her employer sent her back to her employment agency, the Al-Doukhi Labour Supply.
The agency then locked her inside a small kitchen without any ventilation and adequate food supplies. [See: Pinay held like a prisoner by UAE employment firm]
Having heard this, militant groups Anakpawis and Migrante International held a picket in front of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) office on October 3, 2008 to demand action on the plight of runaway OFWs in Middle East countries.
The POEA, however, said it was not in a position to help Laganzo because she is an undocumented OFW.
“On our part, wala kaming matetake na action dahil undocumented siya (we cannot take action because she is undocumented), maybe the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA_ can help them," said POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili.
Philippine embassies, along with their labor and OWWA components, have a standing policy of helping any OFW, whether legally deployed or not.
The POEA, on the other hand, is limited to helping only the documented since its role is limited to regulating recruitment or manpower agencies.
Laganzo, meanwhile, escaped from her agency two days later.
She immediately went to the OWWA center in Dubai where support from the Filipino community poured in. [See: OFW escapes recruiter in Dubai, seeks help from RP embassy]
Anakpawis and Migrante then sought the help of Senator Manuel Villar, who is known for helping distressed OFWs, to help in the repatriation of Laganzo.
“Maricar’s family has long been waiting for her repatriation after her ordeal in the Middle East, and we are happy that she has returned safe and whole," said the senator. - GMANews.TV
May 19, 2009
MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina worker who was once held like a prisoner by her employment firm in the United Arab Emirates has finally returned to the Philippines.
Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Maria Caridad “Maricar" Evangelista Laganzo arrived in Manila via Gulf Air on Monday at 11:10 a.m.
Laganzo went to Dubai in October 2007 to work as a domestic helper but was reportedly maltreated by her employer who threw a chair at her, denied her proper wages, and even threatened to send her to jail.
But after several media people took interest in the plight of the 35-year-old OFW, her employer sent her back to her employment agency, the Al-Doukhi Labour Supply.
The agency then locked her inside a small kitchen without any ventilation and adequate food supplies. [See: Pinay held like a prisoner by UAE employment firm]
Having heard this, militant groups Anakpawis and Migrante International held a picket in front of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) office on October 3, 2008 to demand action on the plight of runaway OFWs in Middle East countries.
The POEA, however, said it was not in a position to help Laganzo because she is an undocumented OFW.
“On our part, wala kaming matetake na action dahil undocumented siya (we cannot take action because she is undocumented), maybe the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA_ can help them," said POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili.
Philippine embassies, along with their labor and OWWA components, have a standing policy of helping any OFW, whether legally deployed or not.
The POEA, on the other hand, is limited to helping only the documented since its role is limited to regulating recruitment or manpower agencies.
Laganzo, meanwhile, escaped from her agency two days later.
She immediately went to the OWWA center in Dubai where support from the Filipino community poured in. [See: OFW escapes recruiter in Dubai, seeks help from RP embassy]
Anakpawis and Migrante then sought the help of Senator Manuel Villar, who is known for helping distressed OFWs, to help in the repatriation of Laganzo.
“Maricar’s family has long been waiting for her repatriation after her ordeal in the Middle East, and we are happy that she has returned safe and whole," said the senator. - GMANews.TV
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
OFW raped, then jailed for adultery in UAE
MANILA, Philippines—An alliance of Filipino worker groups in the Middle East Monday called on the government to come to the aid of a Filipino woman who had complained that she was raped by her employer’s son but who ended up being jailed for adultery in the United Arab Emirates.
Migrante-Middle East said Wilma (not her real name) was languishing in the Ajman Central Jail in Dubai after she was charged with “sleeping with a man.”
“It’s really an unfortunate situation for her. This is usually what happens here to victims of sexual abuse because the perpetrator is clever enough to report the incident to the local police [and claim] that the victim had lured him and slept with him, offering herself, Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said in a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Monterona, who is based in Saudi Arabia, said Wilma’s plight was brought to Migrante’s attention by her distraught husband, who said she left for Dubai on March 27 after being hired as a hotel chambermaid.
The group passed on the information to Philippine Ambassador to UAE Libran Cabactulan.
Wilma had told her husband that she wanted to go home because she was given a job as a domestic, which was not what she expected. In her last text message on April 7, she said she had already told the recruitment agency of her intention to return home, the husband said in his letter to Migrante dated May 8.
Worried after not hearing from her for days, the husband and Wilma’s parents from Piddig, Ilocos Norte, contacted Wilma’s recruiter, the Manila-based Marvic Overseas Placement Agency.
On April 27, the agency informed the husband that Wilma had been raped by the son of her Arab employer.
“The agency said she was jailed because of ‘lying that she was raped,’ and that a medical exam proved [that she was not raped],” the husband said.
That night, he said, a sobbing Wilma finally contacted him using a pre-paid mobile phone, saying she was neglected by the agency. She confirmed that she was raped.
“We want to know what really happened to her and the status of her case. And more importantly, we want her brought back to the Philippines safe,” he said.
The husband also told Migrante that Wilma was scheduled to be arraigned without the benefit of a lawyer.
“In behalf of the husband and the family of Wilma, we are calling the attention of Philippine embassy officials to provide the needed assistance, most importantly, the hiring of a lawyer for her defense,” Monterona said.
Meanwhile, a Hong Kong-based migrants’ welfare advocacy group said 17 Filipino workers at a palm oil plantation in Sabah, Malaysia, had called for help because deductions from their already-measly salaries had put them in debt bondage.
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) said it relayed the plight of the Sabah OFWs to the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur on April 29 but received no response. - Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Posted date: May 12, 2009
Migrante-Middle East said Wilma (not her real name) was languishing in the Ajman Central Jail in Dubai after she was charged with “sleeping with a man.”
“It’s really an unfortunate situation for her. This is usually what happens here to victims of sexual abuse because the perpetrator is clever enough to report the incident to the local police [and claim] that the victim had lured him and slept with him, offering herself, Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said in a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Monterona, who is based in Saudi Arabia, said Wilma’s plight was brought to Migrante’s attention by her distraught husband, who said she left for Dubai on March 27 after being hired as a hotel chambermaid.
The group passed on the information to Philippine Ambassador to UAE Libran Cabactulan.
Wilma had told her husband that she wanted to go home because she was given a job as a domestic, which was not what she expected. In her last text message on April 7, she said she had already told the recruitment agency of her intention to return home, the husband said in his letter to Migrante dated May 8.
Worried after not hearing from her for days, the husband and Wilma’s parents from Piddig, Ilocos Norte, contacted Wilma’s recruiter, the Manila-based Marvic Overseas Placement Agency.
On April 27, the agency informed the husband that Wilma had been raped by the son of her Arab employer.
“The agency said she was jailed because of ‘lying that she was raped,’ and that a medical exam proved [that she was not raped],” the husband said.
That night, he said, a sobbing Wilma finally contacted him using a pre-paid mobile phone, saying she was neglected by the agency. She confirmed that she was raped.
“We want to know what really happened to her and the status of her case. And more importantly, we want her brought back to the Philippines safe,” he said.
The husband also told Migrante that Wilma was scheduled to be arraigned without the benefit of a lawyer.
“In behalf of the husband and the family of Wilma, we are calling the attention of Philippine embassy officials to provide the needed assistance, most importantly, the hiring of a lawyer for her defense,” Monterona said.
Meanwhile, a Hong Kong-based migrants’ welfare advocacy group said 17 Filipino workers at a palm oil plantation in Sabah, Malaysia, had called for help because deductions from their already-measly salaries had put them in debt bondage.
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) said it relayed the plight of the Sabah OFWs to the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur on April 29 but received no response. - Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Posted date: May 12, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Migrant nation
By Rina Jimenez-David
Columnist, Inquirer
Posted date: December 12, 2007
We have much to be grateful for, of course, to the Emir of Kuwait and to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for saving the life of Marilou Ranario. The Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, for commuting Ranario’s death sentence to life imprisonment, and the President for going out of her way and putting the prestige of her office on the line by meeting with him and personally appealing on the Filipino domestic worker’s behalf.
But it is still only a partial victory, and considering the resources put into the campaign to save Ranario, a most costly one, the full value of which we might still be paying for many years from now.
While Ranario has been saved from execution, she still faces life imprisonment, even if the Emir has promised that once her employer’s family accepts Ranario’s apology and the “blood money,” he could cut her jail term further. But Ranario will not be coming home for some time yet, and to secure her freedom, our government has put the full weight of its prestige and reputation, not to mention its diplomatic leverage, on the line.
The same report that carried news of the Emir’s commutation said overseas workers now contribute $12.8 billion annually in remittances, about 10 percent of gross domestic product. Some even maintain that it’s the money that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) send home that keeps the economy from teetering over the edge.
OFWs are both the country’s strength and its vulnerability. While they keep our economy afloat, and lift their families here from the trap of poverty, they have also shaped our foreign policy and made it vulnerable to the laws and policies of “host” countries. In many cases, as in Ranario’s, our leaders have also become beholden to their officials, subject to the benevolence of rulers like the Emir of Kuwait or criminals, like the Iraqi militants who kidnapped Angelo de la Cruz.
* * *
This is not the first time that the Philippines, either through the government itself or private donors, has paid “blood money” to the families of individuals who died at the hands of an overseas Filipino worker.
The first case I remember is that of Sarah Balabagan who was convicted of stabbing her male employer (she claimed she did so in self-defense during an attempted rape) and was “ransomed” from her prison through a prominent businessman’s donation. Upon her release and repatriation, she was brought around the country, achieving the status of a folk heroine. A movie was even made about her plight, though its commercial release was delayed because of political and diplomatic considerations. Sarah even made a stab at show business herself.
Government officials and even business leaders scrambled to save Sarah mainly because they had learned from the painful execution of Flor Contemplacion, who was hanged in Singapore on charges of killing her ward, despite the representations of the Philippine government and even the emergence of a witness who told a contradictory story. Contemplacion’s death seemed to touch a nerve here, leading to widespread protests and the dismissal of some officials.
And yet responses to such crises like that of Flor Contemplacion, Sarah Balabagan and now Marilou Ranario take on something of an ad hoc nature. True, it is difficult to predict the way people subject to such tremendous loneliness, isolation and dislocation as our overseas workers would react to stresses. And thus it would be difficult to prepare sufficiently for every exigency. But should every crisis be resolved only through direct intercession of the President?
* * *
An article in the Los Angeles Times describes current Philippine policy on overseas labor as a “vicious migration trap,” with some 11 million Filipinos overseas enduring “a life of lonely, risky sacrifice.” And yet, even if remittances keep the economy afloat, most observers concede that the policy of encouraging labor exports has not led to prosperity, despite more than 30 years’ and two generations’ experience.
The same article concludes that indeed labor export has become a “formula for stagnation,” with government growing increasingly dependent on earnings from abroad while failing to make the necessary investments in education, health and job generation.
A recent study has found that government’s neglect and spendthrift ways are mirrored by the families left behind by OFWs. Most of the money sent home, it was found, has gone to buy consumer goods, instead of being funneled into productive investments, including education.
* * *
Fortunately, there was another OFW story recently that shows how OFWs and the families they leave behind can maintain the ties that bind them and help society in the process.
For every child or spouse feeling resentment at being sacrificed on the altar of prosperity, there is an OFW suffering from intense loneliness and perhaps resentment, too, at being seen as merely a meal ticket and supplier of imported goods.
To this, says Corazon Atuel whose husband Eugenio works as a ship captain, the antidote is frequent communication and treating each other and their seven children as “friends.” The Atuels join two other families recognized as “Model OFW Family of the Year,” a belated nod to the role that the family plays in the success of an overseas worker.
Perhaps we can extend the model of the Atuels and other families to the nation as a whole and to our migrant population. We need to keep our OFWs within the bosom of national concerns, view them as an essential part of national life and stop treating them merely as sources of remittances. As family members and as a nation, we must send our loved ones abroad and invest their earnings wisely so that in the future there may no longer be any need for them to leave.
Columnist, Inquirer
Posted date: December 12, 2007
We have much to be grateful for, of course, to the Emir of Kuwait and to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for saving the life of Marilou Ranario. The Emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, for commuting Ranario’s death sentence to life imprisonment, and the President for going out of her way and putting the prestige of her office on the line by meeting with him and personally appealing on the Filipino domestic worker’s behalf.
But it is still only a partial victory, and considering the resources put into the campaign to save Ranario, a most costly one, the full value of which we might still be paying for many years from now.
While Ranario has been saved from execution, she still faces life imprisonment, even if the Emir has promised that once her employer’s family accepts Ranario’s apology and the “blood money,” he could cut her jail term further. But Ranario will not be coming home for some time yet, and to secure her freedom, our government has put the full weight of its prestige and reputation, not to mention its diplomatic leverage, on the line.
The same report that carried news of the Emir’s commutation said overseas workers now contribute $12.8 billion annually in remittances, about 10 percent of gross domestic product. Some even maintain that it’s the money that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) send home that keeps the economy from teetering over the edge.
OFWs are both the country’s strength and its vulnerability. While they keep our economy afloat, and lift their families here from the trap of poverty, they have also shaped our foreign policy and made it vulnerable to the laws and policies of “host” countries. In many cases, as in Ranario’s, our leaders have also become beholden to their officials, subject to the benevolence of rulers like the Emir of Kuwait or criminals, like the Iraqi militants who kidnapped Angelo de la Cruz.
* * *
This is not the first time that the Philippines, either through the government itself or private donors, has paid “blood money” to the families of individuals who died at the hands of an overseas Filipino worker.
The first case I remember is that of Sarah Balabagan who was convicted of stabbing her male employer (she claimed she did so in self-defense during an attempted rape) and was “ransomed” from her prison through a prominent businessman’s donation. Upon her release and repatriation, she was brought around the country, achieving the status of a folk heroine. A movie was even made about her plight, though its commercial release was delayed because of political and diplomatic considerations. Sarah even made a stab at show business herself.
Government officials and even business leaders scrambled to save Sarah mainly because they had learned from the painful execution of Flor Contemplacion, who was hanged in Singapore on charges of killing her ward, despite the representations of the Philippine government and even the emergence of a witness who told a contradictory story. Contemplacion’s death seemed to touch a nerve here, leading to widespread protests and the dismissal of some officials.
And yet responses to such crises like that of Flor Contemplacion, Sarah Balabagan and now Marilou Ranario take on something of an ad hoc nature. True, it is difficult to predict the way people subject to such tremendous loneliness, isolation and dislocation as our overseas workers would react to stresses. And thus it would be difficult to prepare sufficiently for every exigency. But should every crisis be resolved only through direct intercession of the President?
* * *
An article in the Los Angeles Times describes current Philippine policy on overseas labor as a “vicious migration trap,” with some 11 million Filipinos overseas enduring “a life of lonely, risky sacrifice.” And yet, even if remittances keep the economy afloat, most observers concede that the policy of encouraging labor exports has not led to prosperity, despite more than 30 years’ and two generations’ experience.
The same article concludes that indeed labor export has become a “formula for stagnation,” with government growing increasingly dependent on earnings from abroad while failing to make the necessary investments in education, health and job generation.
A recent study has found that government’s neglect and spendthrift ways are mirrored by the families left behind by OFWs. Most of the money sent home, it was found, has gone to buy consumer goods, instead of being funneled into productive investments, including education.
* * *
Fortunately, there was another OFW story recently that shows how OFWs and the families they leave behind can maintain the ties that bind them and help society in the process.
For every child or spouse feeling resentment at being sacrificed on the altar of prosperity, there is an OFW suffering from intense loneliness and perhaps resentment, too, at being seen as merely a meal ticket and supplier of imported goods.
To this, says Corazon Atuel whose husband Eugenio works as a ship captain, the antidote is frequent communication and treating each other and their seven children as “friends.” The Atuels join two other families recognized as “Model OFW Family of the Year,” a belated nod to the role that the family plays in the success of an overseas worker.
Perhaps we can extend the model of the Atuels and other families to the nation as a whole and to our migrant population. We need to keep our OFWs within the bosom of national concerns, view them as an essential part of national life and stop treating them merely as sources of remittances. As family members and as a nation, we must send our loved ones abroad and invest their earnings wisely so that in the future there may no longer be any need for them to leave.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Kin seek return of OFW detained in Dubai
By Joey A. Gabieta
Visayas Bureau
Posted date: January 17, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- The family of an overseas Filipino worker detained in a police station in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has asked government to help her return home.
Alberto Peñaflor, administrative officer of the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration in Eastern Visayas, said the Dubai police have been detaining Janeth Anajas, 26, and a resident of the village of Inalindas, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte, since Saturday.
In an interview on Wednesday afternoon, Peñaflor said OWWA learned about Anajas' plight from her sister Ailyn, who informed the agency on Wednesday that Janeth was detained on the complaint of her employer identified only as Mrs. Bazian.
Anajas was detained at the Dubai police station without any formal charges filed against her by her employer, her relatives learned.
"We have already contacted our embassy there for any possible assistance that we could extend to the family of the victim. We assure her family that we will do whatever we can for her return to the country," Peñaflor said.
He added that once their office received any information from the Philippine embassy in Dubai, the family of the detained OFW would right away be contacted.
When reached on her mobile phone Thursday morning, Ailyn said she learned about the condition of her elder sister through a telephone call made by one Angel, said to be a friend of the detained OFW.
"She called us last Sunday and informed us that my sister was detained at the police station in Dubai. We don't really know the real reason why she was detained by her female employer except that Ate Angel told us that my sister had an altercation with her employer that led to her detention," 21-year-old Ailyn said.
Ailyn recalled that her elder sister left for Dubai on May 16, 2006 and was scheduled to return home in 2008 after the expiration of her two-year contract.
"We are really so worried. We don't know what to do. She is too far from us. All we want is that she be freed and returned home safe," Ailyn said.
Janeth is the third in the brood of nine children. Ailyn said that while her sister did not finish college, "she vowed to help me finish my studies."
"But with her present condition, I don't really know if I can even get enrolled," she said.
Since her elder sister left abroad, she had been remitting a big portion of her salary back home, which was used to repair their home, Ailyn said. "That is the reason why I had yet to enroll (for college)," she added.
Visayas Bureau
Posted date: January 17, 2008
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines -- The family of an overseas Filipino worker detained in a police station in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has asked government to help her return home.
Alberto Peñaflor, administrative officer of the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration in Eastern Visayas, said the Dubai police have been detaining Janeth Anajas, 26, and a resident of the village of Inalindas, San Ricardo, Southern Leyte, since Saturday.
In an interview on Wednesday afternoon, Peñaflor said OWWA learned about Anajas' plight from her sister Ailyn, who informed the agency on Wednesday that Janeth was detained on the complaint of her employer identified only as Mrs. Bazian.
Anajas was detained at the Dubai police station without any formal charges filed against her by her employer, her relatives learned.
"We have already contacted our embassy there for any possible assistance that we could extend to the family of the victim. We assure her family that we will do whatever we can for her return to the country," Peñaflor said.
He added that once their office received any information from the Philippine embassy in Dubai, the family of the detained OFW would right away be contacted.
When reached on her mobile phone Thursday morning, Ailyn said she learned about the condition of her elder sister through a telephone call made by one Angel, said to be a friend of the detained OFW.
"She called us last Sunday and informed us that my sister was detained at the police station in Dubai. We don't really know the real reason why she was detained by her female employer except that Ate Angel told us that my sister had an altercation with her employer that led to her detention," 21-year-old Ailyn said.
Ailyn recalled that her elder sister left for Dubai on May 16, 2006 and was scheduled to return home in 2008 after the expiration of her two-year contract.
"We are really so worried. We don't know what to do. She is too far from us. All we want is that she be freed and returned home safe," Ailyn said.
Janeth is the third in the brood of nine children. Ailyn said that while her sister did not finish college, "she vowed to help me finish my studies."
"But with her present condition, I don't really know if I can even get enrolled," she said.
Since her elder sister left abroad, she had been remitting a big portion of her salary back home, which was used to repair their home, Ailyn said. "That is the reason why I had yet to enroll (for college)," she added.
OFWs to charge RP before UN
For workers on death row
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: October 15, 2008
MANILA, Philippines -- A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will file a human rights complaint against the Philippine government with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants for alleged negligence that has resulted in, among others, the beheadings of OFWs on death row overseas.
Connie Bragas-Regalado of Migrante International said Jenifer Bidoya is the seventh OFW beheaded in a foreign country since the Arroyo government came into power in 2001.
She said another 29 are still on death row overseas.
Bidoya was beheaded for the killing of a Saudi national Tuesday afternoon, Manila time.
Regalado said the complaint, which is still being prepared, will also include the Philippine government's alleged neglect of the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos deported from Sabah, as well as the OFWs stranded in several Middle Eastern countries.
"By the end of the year, the massive crackdown in Sabah will have resulted in the flushing out of some 200,000 Filipinos," said Regalado, who was part of the fact-finding mission that went to Zamboanga earlier this month to document the hardships the deportees are experiencing.
At a press conference, Regalado said her organization will ask the UN Special Rapporteur, Jorge Bustamante, to conduct his own fact-finding missions in Sabah and Saudi Arabia and make his own assessment of the Philippine government's response to distressed OFWs.
She said the UN Special Rapporteur will attend Migrante’s International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees on October 28-30.
At the same time, Gina Esguerra, coordinator of Migrante's Migrants Assistance Committee, said her committee receives almost a thousand cases annually, ranging from illegal recruitment, human trafficking, non-payment of wages, physical, mental and sexual abuse, mysterious deaths, and OFWs on death row.
Esguerra said her committee is currently handling other cases of Filipinos in death row, like that of brothers Edison and Rolando Gonzales in Jeddah, and Cecilia Alcaraz in Taiwan.
"Families of these OFWs fear for the lives of their loved ones. They gave the cases to Migrante because the government is doing nothing to save them" she said.
Esguerra said Bidoya's beheading will only worsen the depression and desperation of the families of those on death row.
She noted that the Tameez Appellate Court in Jeddah just a month ago affirmed the capital punishment against the Gonzales brothers, who are accused of killing a fellow Filipino.
Regalado said the DFA should create its own investigative body to find out what really happened in these overseas death-row cases.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Filipino, Yemeni beheaded for Saudi murders
33 other OFWs on death row
By Cynthia Balana
INQUIRER.net Agence France-Presse Inquirer
Posted date: June 13, 2007
RIYADH -- A Filipino and a Yemeni were beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for separate murders, the interior ministry said, adding to a number of executions already more than double that of 2006.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that Filipino Reynaldo Cortez, 41, was executed in Riyadh for stabbing to death a Pakistani driver.
In an interview, Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Affairs Esteban Conejos said Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor called up to confirm the execution of at 2 p.m. Manila time.
Citing DFA statistics, the Filipino migrant advocacy group Migrante said in a statement that 33 other overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), two of them women, are still on death row.
Yemeni Yassin bin Saleh Abdu Ahmed was decapitated in the southern Jizan region after using a pickaxe to kill and then rob a Saudi man, a statement from the Saudi ministry carried by SPA state news agency said.
The beheadings bring to 94 the number of executions announced by the Saudi government so far this year.
In 2006 at least 37 people were executed, while 83 were put to death in 2005 and 35 the year before, according to Agence France-Presse tallies based on official statements.
Executions are usually carried out in public in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty.
The death sentence on Cortez, who left behind a wife and six children in Guagua, Pampanga, was carried out after the victim’s family rejected with finality the offer of 100,000 Saudi rials as blood money and insisted his beheading.
"In court hearings, Cortez said he was trying to defend himself from possible sexual assault and that was what the Philippine embassy insisted during the negotiations for blood money," Conejos said.
Cortez, a welder at the Al-Allah Car Workshop in Riyadh’s Sinaya District, said the Pakistani had tried to rape him. Earlier reports said Saudi Arabian police shot Cortez twice in the left foot even after he surrendered.
In December 2003, Judge Mohammad Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh and two other judges of the Riyadh Grand Court found Cortez guilty of the charge of murder and frustrated murder, and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes.
Cortez' lawyers immediately filed an appeal in the Riyadh Appellate Court. On November 27, 2004, the court, on hearing his claim that he had killed the taxi driver in an act of self-defense, reduced his jail sentence to 10 years.
But a Riyadh high court sentenced Cortez to death on May 30, 2005.
Conejos said the embassy negotiated with the family of the victim twice--first in October 2005 and the other in January 2006. Both efforts failed.
He said that the embassy then turned to the victim's brother who is also working in Riyadh for consideration, but the brother ignored the offer.
Conejos said the embassy then hired a Pakistani professional negotiator to convince the family of the victims but to no avail.
Migrante noted that the beheading of Cortez happened during Migrants Month, declared by the Philippine government.
The statement said that, “weeks before his death, Rey sent Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado text messages saying that unless the Philippine government acted on his case, he will surely be executed.”
“Kapag di talaga inasikaso ng ating gobyerno ang kaso ko, talagang mapuputulan ako ng ulo. Kasi ayaw talaga ako patawarin ng pamily [If the Philippine government doesn’t take action regarding my case, I will really be beheaded because the family does not want to forgive me],” the text message Cortez sent to Regalado on May 10 said.
Migrante said Cortez was the fifth OFW executed abroad under the Arroyo administration.
In March 2005, Sergio Aldana, Antonio Alvesa, Wilfredo Bautista and Miguel Fernandez were also beheaded in Saudi Arabia.
Migrante International said other OFWs still on death row in Saudi Arabia include Rodelio Lanuza, Idan Tejano, Marjana Andal Sakilan. Marilou Ranario is on death row in Kuwait.
Conejos said he had instructed the embassy to work for the return of Cortez' remains to the Philippines.
Kuwaiti emir commutes death sentence of Filipina
MANILA, Philippines — (UPDATE 3) The emir of Kuwait has commuted the death sentence of Filipina maid May Vecina to life imprisonment, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.
The DFA said Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah signed on July 8 an Amiri decree commuting the death sentence of Vecina to life sentence.
This came seven months after the Kuwaiti ruler spared from execution another Filipino overseas worker, Marilou Ranario, following a visit by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Ranario was convicted of killing her employer.
Kuwait’s supreme court upheld in April the death sentence against Vecina for killing her seven-year-old ward Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaib, and attempting to kill his 13-year-old brother Abdulla by slitting his throat and stabbing his 17-year-old sister Hajer on January 6 last year.
The 28-year-old Vecina, like Ranario, was sentenced to hang and only the Kuwaiti ruler could save her life.
In December 2007, President Arroyo met with the emir to personally appeal for the lives of Ranario and Vecina. The emir immediately granted the commutation in Ranario's
case.
Ranario, 33, a school teacher who left her two children to try her luck in the desert emirate, was sentenced to death for killing her female employer, Najat Mahmoud Faraj Mubarak, in January 2005, for allegedly mistreating her and insulting Filipinos.
The DFA said the successful commutation was brought about by President Arroyo's efforts to protect and promote the rights and welfare of the eight million overseas Filipinos.
"President Arroyo takes particular interest in the prospects of some two million OFWs in the Middle East,” it said.
In 2006, Arroyo also personally asked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to save Sara Dematera from the executioner's sword.
About 73,000 Filipinos, including 60,000 women employed mostly as housemaids, work in oil-rich Kuwait and earn less than $200 a month on average. - Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net, July 17, 2008
Arroyo: Gov’t working to save life of Vecina
MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave her assurance on Thursday that the government was talking to the Kuwaiti government to save the life of a Filipina worker who was sentenced to death after she was convicted of killing her ward.
The Kuwaiti Supreme Court upheld the death penalty this week against May Vecina, 28, who would be hanged for murdering her employer’s youngest son Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaib on January 6 last year, as well as attempting to kill his 13-year-old brother Abdulla by slitting his throat and stabbing his 17-year-old sister Hajer.
The court ruling is final and only needs to be signed by Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to be implemented.
Last November, Arroyo went to Kuwait to personally seek clemency from Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah that he might spare the life of another domestic, Marilou Ranario, who was also sentenced to death for murdering her employer.
But Arroyo told reporters in a chance interview in Malacañang this Thursday that she was leaving it up to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through undersecretary Esteban Conejos, to speak about the case concerning Vecina so as not to "jeopardize" ongoing negotiations.
In a separate interview, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said the President might instruct Vice President Noli de Castro to go to Kuwait to personally appeal to the Emir.
He also said that blood money should be raised to pay the family of the victim. - Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Reporter INQUIRER.net, April 03, 2008
Gov’t to speak with one voice on doomed Filipina
MANILA, Philippines -- To avoid jeopardizing ongoing negotiations to obtain clemency for condemned overseas worker May Vecina, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday directed that all announcements concerning the legal and diplomatic efforts with the Emir of Kuwait should be made only by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The President said the government was doing everything it could to save Vecina, who was sentenced to death by hanging for killing her Kuwaiti employer’s seven-year-old son in January and attempting to kill the latter’s two siblings.
The Kuwaiti supreme court upheld last Tuesday Vecina’s death sentence and the Philippine government’s efforts to save her life are now focused on pleading with the Emir, Sheikh Saabash al-Ahama al-Sabah, for the death sentence to be commuted to life.
Ms Arroyo said Esteban Conejos, the foreign undersecretary for migrant affairs, would be making all the announcements on the case.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, meanwhile, told reporters that President Arroyo might send Vice President Noli de Castro to personally appeal Vecina’s case with the Kuwaiti Emir.
Gonzalez reiterated his suggestion for De Castro to explore the possibility of asking OFWs in the Middle East to contribute to the “blood money” which would be paid to the family of Vecina’s employer.
Gonzalez also said it might be necessary for OFWs to be given instruction in the culture of their host countries.
“We should teach Filipinos who go there [the Middle East] what to expect, otherwise they will have culture shock,” he said.
The Migrante OFW group’s Middle East chapter on Thursday began circulating in overseas Filipino communities a letter to the Emir of Kuwait imploring him to spare the life of Vecina. - Michael Lim Ubac, Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 04, 2008
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
Kin of jailed Filipino worker in Saudi ask Arroyo’s help
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines -- The family of an overseas Filipino worker facing execution in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has appealed for help from Malacañang, a week after another Filipino in the oil-rich kingdom was beheaded by sword.
Merly Esteva, wife of Joven Esteva and mother to four children, told reporters here that only President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can save the life of her husband.
Merly said her husband left on April last year for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he was last employed as a family driver.
However, she said, Joven called her up just recently and told her he wanted to go home, adding he even asked for money to buy a plane ticket for his trip back home.
Merly claimed she sent the money but had not heard from him since.
The last she heard of her husband was that he was already in jail for killing his employer and stabbing the two children of his employer. The kids survived.
Merly said she could hardly believed it happened.
The family of Esteva first asked the help of Sultan Kudarat governor Pax Mangudadatu.
Mangudadatu, in turn, appealed to Arroyo to take action this early.
The governor said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Malacañang should investigate the incident to know the circumstances behind the killing.
On June 13, Reynaldo Cortez, 41, was beheaded by sword in a Riyadh jail for the murder of a Pakistani taxi driver who reportedly tried to rape him in 2001.
The DFA said 33 overseas Filipinos are on the death row in the Middle East countries. - Aquiles Zonio, PDI Mindanao Bureau, June 22, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
