Duterte meets with scalded OFW in Davao City


President Rodrigo Duterte met with scalded OFW Pahima Alagasi in Davao City on Saturday, a day after she returned to the Philippines from Saudi Arabia.
Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go in a message on social media said that the President was happy that Pahima Alagasi, who was scalded by her employer in Saudi Arabia in 2014.

Alagasi arrived from Saudi Arabia on Friday morning and was scheduled to make a courtesy call on the President in Davao City, where she was to be reunited with her two children after four years.
"Natutuwa po kami, lalong lalo na si Presidente Duterte at natulungan ng gobyerno si Pahima at naiuwi natin siya dito sa bansa at sa pamilya niya," Go said.
During the meeting, Duterte said the government is willing to do everything to help Filipinos in the Middle East.
In a statement on Sunday, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) quoted Duterte as saying that he could not blame the OFWs if they had to work abroad for their families.
But he advised the workers to be careful since the culture and laws in a foreign country are different from that of the Philippines.
Alagasi thanked the President and all government officials who helped her during her 4-year ordeal, the PCOO said.
She also thanked then Saudi Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud who had approved her final exit from the Kingdom after a protracted four-year legal battle with her employer.
Duterte asked for Alagasi's repatriation during Prince Naif's visit to Malacañang on March 19.
Alagasi, a native of Pikit, North Cotabato, was only 22 years old and barely two months on the job when the mother of her employer poured boiling water on her back as she picked up the lid of a thermos bottle that had accidentally fallen on the floor.
She had suffered severe burns on her neck, back and thighs and had been left unattended for three hours before she was allowed to seek treatment.
While in the hospital, Alagasi escaped and sought refuge in a shelter being run by the Philippine embassy in Riyadh in May 2014.
She then filed a maltreatment complaint against her employer, but it was dismissed by the Saudi prosecutor. Her employer countered and slapped her with a slander case, using the photos of her scalded body that spread online as evidence.

Photo of the scalded back of Pahima that had gone viral.

Alagasi was forced to stay at the Bahay Kalinga shelter of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh for four years due to the protracted legal battle that her employer had waged against her.
Prince Naif eventually intervened and gave his approval for Alagasi's repatriation. —LBG, GMA News

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