Kidapawan City – The North Cotabato provincial government has extended help, including legal assistance, to a Filipino worker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who allegedly suffered abuses from her Arab employer.
North Cotabato Governor Lala Taliño-Mendoza said that her administration has partnered with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) in seeking justice for 22-year-old Fahima Alagasi Palacasi who left Pikit town in 2012 to work as a domestic helper in Riyadh, only to be maltreated by her female employer.
Taliño-Mendoza said that she had already tasked the Provincial Legal Office, including the Social Welfare Unit and Human Resource Department, to link with the TUCP, and build partnership with the Blas E. Ople Policy Training and Institute, a non-profit organization that handles labor and migration concerns of Filipino workers.
“We demand justice for all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who suffered the same like that of Ms. Palacasi, while we can’t stop them from leaving the province for work,” she said.
Palacasi, according to reports, is an un-documented worker.
“We hope our constituents leave as documented OFWs so we could easily facilitate any issues or problems confronting them,” the governor said.
The provincial government, she stressed, has an ongoing program that provides assistance for the placement of those interested to work abroad.
Palacasi, who came from a poor farming family from Pikit, was compelled to work in the Middle East to help his family cope with poverty.
Reports said that on May 4, her irate female employer poured boiling water on Palacasi after she dropped the cap of the water heater while making coffee.
It was learned that she sustained second-degree burns, and was brought to a small clinic in Riyadh where a Filipina nurse treated her.
It was the Filipina nurse that contacted Palacasi relatives in the Philippines.
Source: (by Malu Cadelina Manar - mb.com.ph)
