A 38-year-old Filipina died September 29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia two months before end of her contract in December after serving two households and suffering maltreatment from her second master.
The remains of Ana Fe Velasco-Bania had bruises when it arrived at the Legazpi City Domestic Airport on November 2, according to her family.
They suspect that she suffered maltreatment which resulted to her death; although, initial medical report from the King Khalid Hospital in Saudi Arabia said she died of stroke (acute cerebrovascular accident).
Her husband Ferdinand Bania said that he would like his wife’s remains to undergo an autopsy to verify the cause of her death, but they couldn’t afford it.
“If government officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs will help me out, I will pursue the case against the employers of my wife. But, if there’s nobody willing to help us, I could not do anything about because I don’t have the capacity to pursue the case,” Rappler quoted Bania as saying.
The OFW reportedly died after working for her second employer for 3 days. Her husband said that on October 4, he received a video from his wife’s friend which showed her crying and asking for help – she was sick but her second employer was still forcing her to work. Unfortunately, the video was sent to him a week after she died.
The OFW’s family hopes that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs will help them pursue a thorough investigation into her death, especially that serving two households was a violation of her original contract.
OWWA coordinated the repatriation of Ana Fe’s remains back to the Philippines.
The domestic helper left for Riyadh in April 2015 for a monthly salary of $400 for a 24-month contract. She was sent by a local agency, Speed Continental Employment Agency, Inc. with her travelling expenses shouldered by her employer under the Fair recruitment in the Philippines (FAIR).
(Article was originally written by Rhaydz B. Barcia, published by Rappler and The Manila Times)
