Celebrating migrant workers

Her name was Aisa. When I was still in the Senate, she sent me a letter explaining her horrific ordeal in Jordan as a migrant worker. Her first employer did not feed her for two days and when she got sick she was returned to her agency. The agency then “detained” her inside the toilet for five days until they found a second employer. Her ordeal was about to worsen as her second employer attempted to molest her. She screamed and cried and ran to seek help only to fall down the stairs injuring her leg. “Sana po tulungan niyo akong makauwi,” she pleaded in her letter.

- OF TREES AND FOREST

In August of 2009, Aisa was one of the 80 distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who returned to the Philippines. We managed to rescue 50 migrant workers and two children from Amman, Jordan; 16 from Dammam and one from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; three from Muscat, Oman.

I worked with various government agencies in order to iron out their cases, facilitate their freedom or cancel penalties for some, facilitate the payment of other fees and their flight home. It was a herculean task but nothing compared to the harrowing experiences they endured while working abroad and trying to earn in order to provide a bright future for their families.