An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was being held by her employers in Saudi Arabia after she got into an accident.
In a Facebook post of Headlines sa Pinas, Rahima Makinay Panda said she got injured when her employer’s vehicle crashed in Jeddah on June 16.
Panda suffered injuries in her right leg because of the impact and had a surgery on July 13 by inserting a piece of stainless steel on her leg.
Photo credit: Headline sa Pinas/Facebook
However, Panda said her employers still forced her to work in order to compensate on the SR 25,000 (Dh 24,483) they had spent for her surgery.
The post said she sought the help of her agency and agreed to let her fly back to the Philippines. Her agency charged her employers SR 12,000 (Dh 11,752), but they refused to pay the amount.
Panda’s employers told her to let her parents pay the amount the agency is asking for before she could be released from them.
She is now seeking help from other people to get her story to TV anchor Raffy Tulfo, believing that he could help her. (Source Headline Sa Pinas Facebook)
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Online petition to free OFW from employers launched
An online petition has been launched to free an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Lebanon in the hands of her Lebanese employers who allegedly treat her as a slave for a decade.
“This is Lebanon”, an online community that fights for human rights and justice for domestic workers, seeks 2,500 signatories to intensify the call to release Halima Uphang, a Filipina who hails from Cotabato and said to be facing maltreatment from her Lebanese employers since 2007.
The petition, titled “Free Halima, Slave of Lebanon”, accused her employers, Ibtissam Saade and Ali el Khatib, of enslaving the Filipina and not paying her wages.
The group added Saade and El Khatib also barred Uphang from having any communication with her family in the Philippines, and locked her up inside their house in Lebanon.
“Despite making Halima’s case public, she remains locked in the house. The family says she is happy but refuse to let anyone speak to her,” This is Lebanon has said.
The group also posted videos of Uphang’s family, who calls for her release.
Uphang’s family said in her 10-year stay in Lebanon, she was only able to remit money to the Philippines in 2007.
The petition has garnered 1,642 signatures as of this posting.
The Filipino Times has contacted her employers, but to no avail. Official statement from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon has yet to issue a statement about her case.
Photo credit: Change.org/This is Lebanon
Pictures of OFW cleaning high-rise windows go viral
A Filipina in Hong Kong was spotted risking her life while cleaning the window panes of a flat in a high-rise building, despite several instances of death among domestic helpers in the city due to window washing in recent years.
Photos of the Filipina standing on the window ledge, while only holding onto the frame without any safety belts or harness were uploaded by Elpie Lepa, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) based in Hong Kong, on her Facebook.
The said photos were taken at Grand Garden Building in August 24, and has since garnered 286 shares. The building is in South Bay Area and the risk of accident due to falling from its heights and slipping from the window ledge is very high.
The Philippine government has banned Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong from cleaning windows of high-rise buildings on October 2016, two months after Filipino domestic helper Rinalyn Dullog fell to her death while washing the window of her employer’s flat on the 49th floor of a high-rise building in Hong Kong.
Records show that since 2015, at least 11 people have accidentally fallen from high-rise buildings while cleaning windows or carrying out renovation work, resulting in death or severe injury.
At least four incidents involved foreign domestic helpers as per South China Morning post article.
The Philippines Consulate in Hong Kong notified maid agencies in October last year that all contracts for Filipino workers will have to stipulate specifically that cleaning the outsides of windows is not part of their job, otherwise the consulate will refuse to endorse them, effectively blocking the hire.
It also urged Hong Kong’s Labour Department to adopt a similar ban, saying only such a move can ensure all domestic helpers are protected.
Dolores Balladares, a spokeswoman for the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body, said the Hong Kong government must give teeth to the law by imposing severe penalty for employers who force domestic helpers to do window washing even if it would risk their lives.
“For us it’s hard to say no when employers ask us to clean windows, but it’s scary,” AFP quoted Balladares as saying.
“It’s about time for the government to protect the workers.”
Photo credit: Elpie Lepa/Facebook