DAVAO CITY—Myrna Padilla, a former domestic helper who formed her companies, including a business process outsourcing company, here, recounted an incident when a domestic helper working in Dubai contacted her last year.
She said the woman accessed her Facebook account and sought her help against her employer’s abuses.
Initially, the woman would not completely trust Padilla, being a stranger, but she later succeeded in convincing her to tell her story.
The overseas Filipino worker’s (OFW) horror story in Dubai, Padilla later found out, was common to most domestic helpers working abroad.
Common stories
Employers confiscated their cell phones and passports and paid them only half of what was stipulated in their contracts.
Padilla said this incident, and other similar stories she heard, prompted her to set up OFW Watch.
The website aims to connect OFWs worldwide and create a community that allows them to monitor each other and help those in distress.
The system that runs the website is home-brewed, having been developed by Mynd Dynamic Team Inc., the second software development company that Padilla had founded in 2010.
Sign of trouble
The software can monitor who among the registered OFW members had stopped logging in and using her account, which could be the first sign of trouble, Padilla said.
“Once someone stops, one could consider it a sign that something is wrong and should check it out,” she said.
Padilla said the idea of a collective effort to help those in distress came from her own experience when she was overseas.
“My experience as a domestic helper tells me that most OFWs hearing of countrymen or women in distress were always willing to help,” she explained.
The website aims to connect over 12 million OFWs worldwide though the combined use of Facebook and mobile technology.
OFW network
Padilla said the long term aim of the website is to create an interconnected network of OFWs all over the world, providing them with tools to help each other.
The website also provides news from home for OFWs, help them find and rate recruitment agencies and also link them to government agencies dealing with OFWs.
As to the case of the Dubai OFW, Padilla said efforts to help her had succeeded.
The woman, she said, had recently contacted her and informed her that all has ended well. Germelina Lacorte