Distressed Pinay DH arrives from KSA

    A distressed Filipino domestic helper (DH) arrived on Jan. 15 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, just a month after she left.

    Emee Segovia Loayon from Davao left the Philippines for the Kingdom on Dec. 14, 2023, to work as a housemaid for Meshal Khaled Ali bin  Alsuwayhib.

    But she could not cope with the job. She worked long hours — from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight—and her employer was angry if she stopped working to rest.

    She was also serving a big family of 10 members.

    “Mamamatay ako, sir, sa uri ng trabaho ko,” she said.

    (I’d die with the kind of work I did.)

     A single mom with three kids, she and her employer did not understand each other because the latter spoke only Arabic.

    “Ang amo ko ay laging galit sa akin, na dahilan upang matakot ako sa kanya at ma-trauma ako,” she said.

   (My employer was always angry with me, which made me afraid of her and caused me to be traumatized.)

    She was also homesick but could not communicate with her family because she had no access to wifi.

    She complained to her agency, Moumaizat Injaz Recruitment Agency, but they would not listen.

    She also sent a text message to her agency in Manila, BM Skyway General Services and Trading, but to no avail.

    Eventually, she sent a text message to this writer regarding her case, requesting to be rescued. Her case was forwarded to former career foreign service officer Rafael E. Seguis, who referred it to Undersecretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac, officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and the Philippine Embassy.

    Cacdac replied, “Yes, Sir, we’ll help her.”

    On Jan. 16, Tuesday, Attaché Saifoden “Ding” Manalao of the Assistance to Nationals (ATN) of the Philippine Embassy sent a text message.

    The message, which Seguis forwarded to this writer, said, “Sir, nakauwi na kahapon si Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Emee Loayon.”

(Sir, OFW Emee Loayon already left yesterday.)

    A photocopy of Loayon’s itinerary showed that she boarded the Philippine 

Airlines (PAL) flight 655, which took off from the King Khaled International Airport (KKIA) in Riyadh at 7 p.m. on Jan. 14  and arrived in Manila at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 15.

  She boarded PAL flight 2815 for Davao at 12:25 p.m. on Jan. 15 and arrived two hours later.