Repatriation of ailing Cebuana in KSA urged

The Cebu City council is asking the Department of Foreign Affairs to implement a repatriation plan that would speedily transport home the Cebuana overseas foreign worker in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who reportedly got sick after escaping from her alleged abusive employer.

The resolution, sponsored by councilor Edgardo Labella, said that Geraldine Velasquez, a resident of barangay Pit-os, is reportedly held under the custody of the government of Saudi Arabia and now needs immediate assistance from the Philippine government.

Gina Auman, the sister of Geraldine, narrated that sometime on March 14, this year, her sister left for Riyadh on a two-year contract as domestic helper assisted by SGA Shahara Manpower Services, a Manila-based placement agency.

Two months after the departure of Velasquez, Auman said she "smelled something fishy when the recruitment agency could not provide clear answer to her query as to the specific place of work of her sister."

Auman's suspicion turned into alarm when a male OFW caller - who claimed to be working in the same job site where Velasquez was also working - told her that Velasquez sustained a knee injury after she escaped by jumping out of the window of her employer's house.

"The worried Auman disclosed that while her sister is reportedly stricken with fever due to her knee injury, the same is even lamentably willing to forego her six months salary for as long as she can be flown back here in Cebu City so she can rejoin her family as soon as possible," Labella said.

Section 23 of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, which mandates, "the DFA, through its home office or foreign posts, shall take priority action or make representation with the foreign authority concerned to protect the rights of migrant workers and other overseas Filipinos and extend immediate assistance including the repatriation of distressed or beleaguered migrant workers and other overseas Filipinos."

"The plea for immediate assistance of the beleaguered Cebuana OFW Geraldine Velasquez squarely falls within the ambit of the responsibilities of DFA as mandated by Republic Act 8042," Labella added. - Garry B. Lao/MEEV