Mideast OFW groups kick off justice campaign for abuse victims

Overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) organizations in the Middle East are launching on Friday an online signature campaign to call on the Aquino administration to step up efforts in seeking justice for Filipino victims of rape and murder in the region.

In a release, Migrante-Middle East said it will launch on January 7 the “Justice for Murdered OFW Romelyn Eroy-Ibañez and Other Victims” movement in Saudi Arabia, in coordination with the group’s various chapters and other OFW associations throughout the Middle East.

Ibañez is a Filipina domestic helper in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, who was found in the kitchen of her employer with stab wounds on the neck, abdomen and wrist, and acid burns in her mouth area, arms and legs, in September 2010. (See: Pinay DH dies of acid burns, stab wounds in KSA — DFA)

Ibañez, 22, from Kidapawan City in Cotabato province, died shortly after she was brought to the hospital as her internal organs were reportedly unable to sustain the acid ingestion.

To date, the culprit has not been identified and arrested.

“We have been told that the Philippine Embassy is still awaiting the police report which the local authorities have promised to provide as soon as the investigation has been completed,” Migrante said, adding that the embassy has already “hired the services of a local law firm.”

Migrante regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said its affiliate Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan, as well as other OFW organizations and Filipino community leaders, will formally launch the campaign through a press conference in Riyadh.

In Al-Khobar, a similar press conference will also be held by Migrante-Eastern Region and the Muslim-Christian Alliance for Justice and Peace in the Philippines.

An online signature campaign has already been launched by the groups in relation to the justice movement.

“We have launched this petition and signature campaign to press hard the Aquino government and the Foreign Affairs department to act on the murder of OFW Eroy-Ibanez and the other victims of unsolved crimes,” Monterona said.

He cited several other cases of deaths, rape and sexual abuse of OFWs in the Middle East, majority of which have yet to be resolved.

These unresolved cases, according to Monterona, are the following:

1. Rowena Peremne Arceo, 33, from Cordillera province, who died on October 22, 2008 in Al Khobar;

2. Joy Cabansi Sarto, 28, from Echague, Isabela province, allegedly murdered by her Arab employer on September 22, 2009;

3. Lorena (not her real name), 33, from Ilagan, Isabela, allegedly raped in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on October 1, 2009; the case is unsolved;

4. Eugenia Baja, 24, who reportedly committed suicide even though subsequent autopsy showed that she suffered stab wounds and bruises;

5. Clara (not her real name), from Lagawe, Ifugao, reportedly gang-raped at her employer’s house in February 2007;

6. Analyn De Peña, 33, from Old Sta. Mesa, Manila, who allegedly committed suicide in November 2009, although the family suspects foul play; and

7. Marilou Macam Ating, 37, from Lingayen, Pangasinan, who reportedly died on November 24, 2008 after she fell from the fourth floor of her employer’s residence; but her family also suspects foul play.

Monterona added that from February to August 2009, the Migrante chapter in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates recorded seven cases of mysterious deaths, including the following cases:

* Roderick Miranda who reportedly hanged himself on February 4;

* Norayda Ayuman, who allegedly jumped from the 7th floor of a building on February 6;

* Jeffrey Alberto So, who reportedly jumped from the 3rd floor of a building on June 13; and

* Evelyn Lilo, who allegedly jumped from a building on August 10.

“These cases are just among the many cases showing the extent of government reluctance and criminal neglect [as regards] the deplorable plight of OFWs. We [have] repeatedly [demanded] that OFW protection must be raised to the host governments as a diplomatic issue and concern,” Monterona explained.

GMANews.TV is still trying to contact the Department of Foreign Affairs for comment as of posting time.

Saudi Arabia remains the top destination for OFWs for the past seven years, with some 5.7 million Filipinos deployed in the oil-rich country from 2003 to 2009 based on records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Majority of these workers are nurses, domestic helpers, caregivers and information technology workers.

In 2009, Filipinos from Saudi Arabia sent home some US$1.4 billion, registering the third highest OFW remittances next only to those from the US and Canada.

The UAE meanwhile has been the second most preferred destination of OFWs for the past four years, with some 196,000 workers deployed there in 2009.—JV, GMANews.TV