DUBAI: The heart-wrenching story of a 48-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who was recently repatriated after living underground for over nine years and giving birth to a son outside of marriage, has earned Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes praises from Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. who commended him for expeditiously working on the case.
“He didn’t wait a second to solve the problem. Love that man,” Locsin said, after being informed by Foreign Affairs Asst. Secretary Elmer Cato that Vicenta Habagat Casido, more popularly known in the Satwa, Dubai community, where she stayed, as “Mama Neng,” and son, six-year-old “Butchoy” have been flown home on Dec. 18, 2018.
Cortes said the repatriation was a result of “the collaboration between the government and the whole community.”
“I have always stressed that I cannot do this alone. I need to have the cooperation of everyone in the community, including media, the academe and youth, among others,” he said.
Casido, ailing as she was with an undiagnosed lump on her breast, not to mention a failing eyesight, applied for amnesty around October through a UAE government program put into effect from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31 last year.
The Philippine Consulate worked on her case to the end.
Casido left her children back home to the care of a neighbor in Zamboanga so she could try her luck in Dubai – in vain. During her years as an illegal alien, Casido took part time jobs as domestic help to survive. She also met a fellow Filipino with whom she fell in love with but who unfortunately abandoned her upon learning she has become pregnant.
Her story, which was first posted on The Filipino Times online edition, was also published in The Guardian, a British daily, whose reporter did a lengthy follow-up feature.
Here is the link of the TFT video.
Vicenta “Mama Neng” Casido in an interview with The Filipino Times shortly before she and her son were repatriated last Dec. 18.
