Binay seeks pregnant OFW’s return from Saudi

Vice President Jejomar Binay. INQUIRER file photo

Vice President Jejomar Binay has asked the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh to facilitate the return of a pregnant overseas Filipino worker (OFW) before the Sharia police can get to her in Saudi Arabia.

Binay, also the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, said he learned about the OFW from her family who came to his office on Thursday.

According to the OFW’s mother, her daughter was impregnated by a Filipino taxi driver that she met after escaping from an abusive employer.

The driver offered her daughter help and a place to stay, but raped her and held her captive for a week before letting her go, the mother told Binay, adding that her daughter was now six months pregnant. Their names have been withheld.

The mother said her daughter was initially given sanctuary by a Christian group but she later left the group and was now moving from house to house to avoid arrest. She had also left her travel and work documents with her employer.

Sharia law—Islamic law that is observed in Saudi Arabia—strictly imposes its morality clauses which include criminal punishment for unmarried persons to be in the same enclosed areas and for unmarried persons to have relations.

The family said the woman was afraid to seek help from the embassy due to her condition, thus they decided to seek help from the Vice President.

“We have already coordinated with the DFA Office of the Undersecretary of Migrant Workers Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Saudi to make arrangements so that our kababayan can be brought to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Center in Dubai for medical treatment and for her subsequent repatriation,” Binay said.

He also asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to investigate the claim the OFW was illegally recruited. Tina G. Santos