Pinay helper allegedly forced to drink household bleach by employer in Saudi — DFA

FILE: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is working closely with Saudi Arabian authorities in connection with the case of a Filipina household service worker who was allegedly force to drink household bleach by her employer. (Photo: Keepscases/ Wikipedia)

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is working closely with Saudi Arabian authorities in connection with the case of a Filipina household service worker who was allegedly forced to drink household bleach by her employer.

In a statement, the DFA said that Agnes Mancilla was rushed unconscious by concerned members of the Filipino Community to Jizan King Fahad Central Hospital on April 2 after her employer supposedly forced her to swallow the bleach.

She immediately went through laparotomy after she was taken to the hospital to “flush out the bleach from her stomach.” Doctors also found “burn marks” on Mancilla’s back.

The DFA noted that the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah is “closely monitoring” the condition of the Filipina worker who remains in “serious but stable condition.”

“We would like to assure our kababayans (fellowmen) that we are working closely with authorities in Jizan to make sure that justice will be given to Agnes Mancilla,” Consul General Edgar Badajos said.

Consulate officials also pay a visit to Mancilla and made representations with Jizan authorities “to make sure charges were filed against her employer” who was later arrested by police.

“The Consulate will regularly send representatives to Jizan to follow up her case with the police and to look into her condition,” Badajos added.

Badajos further said that he has also requested the assistance of the Filipino Community in Jizan to keep an eye on the Filipina helper.

It was in 2016 when Mancilla started working in Saudi Arabia. According to the Consulate General, she was repeatedly physically abused by her lady employer and was not being paid her salary.

Mancilla’s case came after Pahima “Candies” Alagasi, a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia who was soaked with boiling water by her female employer four years ago, returned home on Friday, April 13.

On the same day, President Rodrigo Duterte assured that the government is taking steps to stop the abuse of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East countries.

Duterte said that he could not blame the Filipinos if they had to work abroad to provide the needs of their families; however, he reminded them to be careful since the culture and laws in a foreign country are different from that of the Philippines.

Upon the instruction of Duterte, the Philippine government on February 12 issued a total ban on the deployment of OFWs in Kuwait.

This decision came in the midst of investigations on seven Filipino household workers killed in the Gulf state, among these cases is that of Joanna Demafelis whose body was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment and believed to have been there for over a year before its discovery.