Social media has become a tool for some, if not all, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to not only get in touch with family and friends but also to tell their stories of struggles while working in a foreign country.
The most recent posts that The Filipino Times (TFT) has monitored involved that of Norhana Dalid Badrudin, a Filipina who works in Kuwait.
A certain Tayan Lap Bantilan posted her condition on Facebook yesterday, seeking help and tagging friends hoping it would reach Philippine authorities there.
According to Bantilan’s post, Badrudin was allegedly abused by her female employer. She almost lost her two thumbs as a result.
Photos of Badrudin crying while showing her bandaged hands were posted, as well.
Another story of alleged abuse was shared by Myleene Ruelo in a Facebook group.
According to Ruelo, food was thrown at her after she failed to clean the room of her employer.
She shared two videos of food and other things scattered on the kitchen floor.
In the background, Ruelo is heard crying.
“Tinamaan ako niyan (video showing orange cooking pot). Tinapon niya ang pagkain sa akin. Yun ang ginawa niya,” she said in the first video. “Ginawa ng amo ko. Anong akala nila sa akin dito robot? Ginawa ko naman lahat ito. Hindi naman ako nakaupo. Hindi naman ako nakaupo dito,” she added.
Ruelo posted the videos last Dec. 20, 2019.
Badrudin’s and Ruelo’s are two of the many stories of OFWs in Kuwait who experience abuse. Many of them are mostly Filipinas.
According to Gabriela party-list in a report back in 2018, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has recorded at least 6,000 cases of maltreatment of OFWs in the Middle East in 2017 alone.
Currently, there’s a partial deployment ban being implemented in Kuwait following the death of Filipina maid Jeanelyn Villavende. She was allegedly killed in the hands of her own employer there.
This is not the first time that a deployment ban was implemented.
Back in 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte himself ordered the ban following the discovery of the remains of Filipina domestic helper Joanna Demafelis inside a freezer in an abandoned house.
