2 maltreated OFWs in Saudi on their way home –report

Two Filipino workers rescued from an abusive employer in Hail in Saudi Arabia are now on their way home, a Saudi news site reported Wednesday.

Marcelina Janapin, 46, and Rowena Perea, 42, left for home last Sunday, Arab News reported.

"They could have left earlier but had to wait for the amounts due to them from their employer and for an available flight back to the Philippines," Filipino community leader Ameera Luna Domingo said.

Janapin and Perea thanked Arab News for making their case public, Hail labor ministry director general Saleh Al-Ahmari, and Domingo.

Domingo had referred their case to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh and worked with the labor office in Hail.

Investigation showed Janapin and Perea were hired as dressmakers in Manila via Mayon International Trading Corp. in April 2013. Mayon was later found to have closed down.

Janapin and Perea signed contracts allowing a salary of SR1,875 a month plus a SR300 food allowance. But once in the Kingdom, they got only SR1,200 and SR1,300 a month, below the SR1,500 monthly salary specified in a labor contract between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

Also, both were made to work as housemaids for different families, with their employer getting SR5,000 a month for each of them. — another violation of the Philippine-Saudi contract as Filipino workers are not supposed to work for an employer other than their sponsors.

Meanwhile, the two plan to go into business after they received SR8,000 from their employer.

Janapin plans to set up a restaurant and rent out dresses she bought in Hail, while Perea intends to set up a beauty shop, the Arab News report said. —Joel Locsin/KBK, GMA News

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