Many Filipino domestic helpers in Saudi Arabia are seeking help from the government to stop employers in the Gulf state from auctioning and trading Filipino maids among themselves, reported Inquirer.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who work as domestic helpers in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah condemned the said trade that has led to many cases of abuse and sexual exploitation.
“We hope the government will take drastic measures to stop this. This has been going on for many years already and it has led to the abuse and exploitation of many [Filipino women],” an OFW based in Riyadh, name withheld, said.
She said that Filipino maids, who are legally deployed in Saudi, are being auctioned off from one employer to another depending on who makes the highest bid.
“Usually one can see the motive of employers who show great interest in hiring [maids] by offering higher prices—they usually make sexual advances to the women,” the OFW said.
The Filipina domestic worker also said that when they are traded off to another employer, it would not be covered by contracts, and their passports and work visas would be confiscated.
“I feared for my life, especially when I learned that I had been sold to another employer for 24,000 rials,” she said.
The OFW said that she was able to escape her employer and that a fellow Filipino domestic worker helped her and took her in.
Officials of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said that they have been receiving complaints regarding the trade of Filipino domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.
“We are also trying to validate those cases because indeed, this is the same account of [Filipino workers] who have asked assistance from the OWWA post in Saudi [Arabia],” said Ma. Elvira Ador, OWWA director for overseas operations coordination service.
Ador also said that migrant workers who had been sold to another employer should immediately seek help from OWWA.
Saudi Arabia is the top destination for OFW deployment. In 2016 alone, more than 366,000 newly hires have been deployed in the said Gulf state.
