VILLAR PROMISES TO HELP OFW DOUSED WITH BOILING
WATER TO GET JUSTICE

Senator Cynthia A. Villar yesterday assured to assist the 22-year old Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who suffered second degree burns after the mother of her employer doused boiling water on her body in Saudi Arabia.

The senator said Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance) will help Pahima "Candice" Alagasi in her medical treatment the moment she arrives in the country.

In an interview over radio DZXL, Villar told anchorwoman Susan "Toots" Ople that the government should not tolerate injustices perpetrated on our OFWs, considered as the country's modern day heroes. "The government should also look into the Bilateral Labor Agreement signed between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia," said Villar, also managing director of Villar SIPAG. The labor pact signed on May 19, 2013 between Labor Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz and her counterpart in Saudi Arabia intends to protect the rights of both employers and domestic workers and regulate the contractual relation between them. Article 4 of the said pact also provides that the Saudi government must ensure that the welfare and rights of domestic workers will be promoted and protected in accordance with applicable law, rules and regulations.

According to Villar, our government can invoke this bilateral agreement to seek and eventually obtain justice for Alagasi who was maltreated and physically abused by her Saudi employers.

She also called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to use the Legal Assistance Fund to hire good lawyers to assist Alagasi in her quest for justice.

She said all those responsible for Alagasi's harrowing ordeal should be held liable for the offense committed.

"We will closely monitor the actions being taken by the DFA and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regarding this case," said Villar.

She underscored the necessity of showing to the whole world that our government would not tolerate abuses on Filipino workers.

"We will not allow them to trample on our rights, especially our OFWs who have to endure the pain of leaving their loved ones and family in order to provide them better lives," Villar further told Ople in the radio interview.

The senator and Ople are staunch advocates of rights of OFWs. They have been helping in the repatriation of our workers who had been victims of various forms of abuses, particularly those who sought refuge in Bahay Kalinga.

For OFWs who opted to remain in the country, they help them acquire skills or provide them with means of livelihood to earn a living.

Alagasi was deployed to Saudi Arabia by a licensed agency, A-M Phil. Professional Services Corporation.

Together with its counterpart in Saudi Arabia, it was later issued by the POEA a preventive suspension order.

Before her employer's mother scalded her with boiling water, Alagasi was also subjected to verbal and physical abuses by her former Saudi employers.

A Filipino nurse who was attending to Alagasi's burns alerted her cousin, also based in Saudi Arabia.

With the help of her cousin, Alagasi escaped through the backdoor of the clinic.

The escape was coordinated with the Philippine Embassy through Labor Attache Resty dela Fuente.

The distressed migrant worker is now at Bahay Kalinga while awaiting for her return to the Philippines.