OFW lives in airport terminal just like in the Tom Hanks movie — report


A 34-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW), illegally recruited, decided to leave her employer but found herself stranded at the Sri Lanka International Airport.
In a report posted on The Filipino Times, Blas Ople Policy Center and Training Institute head Susan Ople related the plight of Sunshine Sereno who was a worker in a Middle East country.
Sereno stayed with her employer for only a month, saying that she could not stand the working conditions.
She asked to return to the Philippines. In order to go home, she had to travel from Doha, Qatar to Colombo in Sri Lanka, then Hong Kong, before reaching the Philippines.
Ople related in her column at the Business Mirror that Sereno was in Sri Lanka and was about to board the plane for her flight to Hong Kong when she learned that her employer cancelled her plane ticket.
"She could not board the plane. Neither could she go out of the airport without the appropriate visa. On top of that, she faces arrest by the immigration police unless she can produce a ticket home,” Ople said.
Sereno was allowed to stay at the airport until she is able to buy a ticket to Manila.
At the airport, Ople related that Sereno begged for biscuits, drank water from the drinking fountain and used the airport washroom.
Sereno would approach complete strangers to borrow their phone charger.
“The staff [of an airline] gave her food, once a day, which soon became twice a day. The maintenance and janitorial crew of the airport became her good friends. She cried a lot, and would occupy empty seats to sleep,” Ople said.
Sereno took advantage of the free wi-fi service at the airport and was able to inform her sister in Hong Kong and a friend in Russia about her situation.
Through FB messenger, the family friend contacted Ople, who in turn got in touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs, who then called the honorary consul in Colombo.
After living in the airport for six days, Sereno's sister sent her a plane ticket and she was able to return to Manila. — BAP, GMA News

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