Maltreated OFW in Kuwait returns home

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —A 42-year-old overseas Filipina worker (OFW), who claims to being maltreated by her employer in Kuwait, has returned home to this city last Sunday.

City Councilor Alex Paglumotan yesterday said he has helped in the repatriation of Concepcion Millares-Fayupane, the OFW from Barangay Villaminte of this city.

Paglumotan said Fayupane’s parents sought his assistance to repatriate her, and he referred the matter to Jeff Esperanzate, a former staff of the Sectoral Concerns Office.

In an interview, Fayupane disclosed that she arrived in Kuwait in January 2012, and since then she has been maltreated by her 38-year-old female employer and her two children, aged 6 and 7 years old.

She said she was with six other Filipina domestic helpers when she arrived there but the three others fled and were jailed. They were all maltreated every day except for the cook who was an Ethopian.

Fayupane said she attempted to escape once and was jailed but her male employer got her out. When she attempted to escape for the second time, her female employer threw her down the stairs.

She showed to the media the bruises and scars on her arms that were inflicted by her female employer like bite and pinch marks, burns and hematoma which were allegedly caused when she was hit by her employer with a walking cane.

Fayupane said she has two children while her husband, who was a former taxi driver, is now suffering from nervous breakdown after he was robbed. She was only able to send them money twice and, after that, she was no longer paid by her employer.

Paglumotan said they will try to come up with legislations or programs that will help OFWs in distress and give them justice. “Through diplomatic representations of the Philippines, this kind of problems should be documented,” he said.  (FREEMAN)