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Monday, April 11, 2011

Migrant group deplores PH posts in UAE, Syria over neglect on OFWs who cry rape

Migrante chapter in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) deplores the Philippine
embassy and consular officials who failed to provide immediate assistance to
a woman OFW who was jailed and allegedly have been repeatedly rape by jail
personnel in Dubai.

OFW "Cristy, not her real name, 23, from Sta. Monica, San Pablo City,
Laguna was able to inform her mother that she was allegedly been held up
last December. She immediately complained to the local police but instead of
getting assistance from it, she was sent behind bars.

Cristy arrived in Dubai on July 2010 and works as a singer, according to
her mother.

Her mother sought assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs, but
until now they are still awaiting action from the DFA.

Cristy alleges that she has been repeatedly raped while inside jail; she
suspects that she was being pimped by jail personnel, said Nhel Morona,
Migrante-UAE secretary-general.


Morona reiterates calls on the PH post in UAE, amid plea from her parents to
the DFA in the Philippines, to provide immediate assistance to Cristy by
sending a consular team that would get her out of jail as she was a victim,
not only of hold up, but also of rape.

Morona said his group and the Gabriela chapter in UAE will be initiating a
case dialog with the PH post officials and would push them to act
immediately on her case.

"The PH post must conduct an investigation, no cover-ups, identify the
culprit and file charges against them," Morona added.

"We would not want to hear any excuses from the PH post for its failure to
immediately provide assistance to Cristy, because if it done so dispatching
a team to the jail, Cristy would not be repeatedly raped inside as she would
walked free out of jail," Morona ended.

On another separate incident, John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East
regional coordinator, endorsed to the PH embassy another rape case involving
an OFW-domestic helper working in Syria.

On his letter dated 5 April 2011 to the PH embassy-Assistance to the
National section in Damascus, Syria, Monterona said:=94Kindly be informed
that I have received a message from a friend and fellow OFW of 'Janet' (not
her real name), who is working as a domestic worker in Syria. The subject
OFW claimed that she has been sexually abused."

Monterona added the victim had already sought assistance to a certain PH
embassy officials identified as Mr. Ben Espinosa and a certain Ma'am Tina,
but until now no assistance provided to the OFW victim.

"Again, this is a clear disservice to a distress and abuse OFW who needs our
PH embassy officials assistance; if these officials could not be of help
then they must be fired from their job," Monterona averred.

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