Filipina trafficked in Iraqi city repatriated to PH

FREE AT LAST. “Joyce” upon her release from jail. (Photo courtesy of the Philippine Embassy in Iraq)

MANILA — A female overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was brought home on Thursday a year after she was trafficked in Iraq.
Philippine Vice Consul to Iraq Jom Sadie said the OFW, named “Joyce”, arrived in Manila at about 4:30 p.m.

In a lengthy post on the Facebook page of the Philippine Embassy in Iraq on Wednesday, Sadie said Joyce was initially promised a job in Dubai but found out she was to be transported to Iraq using a Kurdistan work visa.

“For three days, Joyce was transported by car from Erbil to Basra, because the visa she holds is not valid for travel to the rest of Iraq. During that trip, she was transferred from one car to another at least five times in order to avoid inspection at various checkpoints that pepper their route,” the envoy narrated.

“She got lucky. At least 21 other Filipinos experienced traveling the same route from July to December of 2018. Some were detained, two were allegedly kidnapped, several were molested during the journey,” he noted.

Although Joyce did not experience the ordeal of her fellow OFWs in transit to Basra, she suffered maltreatment in the hands of her employer.

“Last October, Joyce managed to escape the maltreatment she was enduring from her employer in Basra and she traveled to Baghdad amidst the protest and violence that erupted in that city during that month. She stayed in the Embassy for a few months alongside the others,” Sadie narrated.

In December 2018, a day before Joyce’s supposed flight, her employer filed a case against her and she was detained at the airport. It was only this month, through the Embassy’s facilitation, that Joyce was released.

“I see Joyce enjoying a cigarette in the other car in our convoy that’s running fast to the airport as I type this. The girl is finally free. And she is celebrating on her own,” wrote Sadie, who accompanied the Filipina to the airport.

Following her release, the Embassy issued a reminder to Filipinos eyeing jobs in Dubai with shady details to observe vigilance.

“May this story serve as a warning to always be careful. If the offer is too good to be true, it is not true,” it said.