OFW raped, then jailed for adultery in UAE

MANILA, Philippines—An alliance of Filipino worker groups in the Middle East Monday called on the government to come to the aid of a Filipino woman who had complained that she was raped by her employer’s son but who ended up being jailed for adultery in the United Arab Emirates.

Migrante-Middle East said Wilma (not her real name) was languishing in the Ajman Central Jail in Dubai after she was charged with “sleeping with a man.”

“It’s really an unfortunate situation for her. This is usually what happens here to victims of sexual abuse because the perpetrator is clever enough to report the incident to the local police [and claim] that the victim had lured him and slept with him, offering herself, Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said in a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Monterona, who is based in Saudi Arabia, said Wilma’s plight was brought to Migrante’s attention by her distraught husband, who said she left for Dubai on March 27 after being hired as a hotel chambermaid.

The group passed on the information to Philippine Ambassador to UAE Libran Cabactulan.

Wilma had told her husband that she wanted to go home because she was given a job as a domestic, which was not what she expected. In her last text message on April 7, she said she had already told the recruitment agency of her intention to return home, the husband said in his letter to Migrante dated May 8.

Worried after not hearing from her for days, the husband and Wilma’s parents from Piddig, Ilocos Norte, contacted Wilma’s recruiter, the Manila-based Marvic Overseas Placement Agency.

On April 27, the agency informed the husband that Wilma had been raped by the son of her Arab employer.

“The agency said she was jailed because of ‘lying that she was raped,’ and that a medical exam proved [that she was not raped],” the husband said.

That night, he said, a sobbing Wilma finally contacted him using a pre-paid mobile phone, saying she was neglected by the agency. She confirmed that she was raped.

“We want to know what really happened to her and the status of her case. And more importantly, we want her brought back to the Philippines safe,” he said.

The husband also told Migrante that Wilma was scheduled to be arraigned without the benefit of a lawyer.

“In behalf of the husband and the family of Wilma, we are calling the attention of Philippine embassy officials to provide the needed assistance, most importantly, the hiring of a lawyer for her defense,” Monterona said.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong-based migrants’ welfare advocacy group said 17 Filipino workers at a palm oil plantation in Sabah, Malaysia, had called for help because deductions from their already-measly salaries had put them in debt bondage.

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) said it relayed the plight of the Sabah OFWs to the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur on April 29 but received no response. –Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer