The Filipina domestic helper in Saudi Arabia who accused her employer’s mother of scalding her with boiling water four years ago will be reunited with her loved ones in the Philippines on Friday, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The DFA said Pahima Alagasi would depart for Manila last night after the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh was able to secure the assistance of Saudi authorities in clearing the way for her return to the country.
“Finally, after four long years, Pahima will be able to again embrace her children who she left behind in Mindanao more than four years ago,” Ambassador to Riyadh Adnan Alonto said in a statement.
The 30-year-old Alagasi left the Philippines in March 2014 and served as a household service worker in Riyadh, but sought refuge at the Embassy two months later after she was hospitalized with serious burns she claimed she sustained after the mother of her employer poured boiling water on her back.
The Philippine Embassy helped Alagasi, a separated mother of two from Pikit, North Cotabato, in filing a case of maltreatment against the mother of her employer but this was dismissed after she failed to prove her accusation.
Alagasi has been staying at the Embassy’s Bahay Kalinga shelter since then and could not return to the Philippines because her employer filed a counter case against her.
Ambassador Alonto cited the intercession made by Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Saud Bin Naif who approved her final exit from the Kingdom after a protracted four-year legal battle with her employer.
“Pahima’s return would not have been possible without the help of Prince Abdulaziz and we would like to express our profound gratitude to him for his magnanimous gesture,” said Ambassador Alonto, who will be accompanying Alagasi on her flight to Manila.
Ambassador Alonto reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano that it was Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Nasser Al-Daood who informed him during a meeting on Sunday that Alagasi can now return to the Philippines.
During that meeting, Deputy Minister Al-Daood also turned over to Alagasi two month’s worth of unpaid salaries from her employer.”©
Alagasi said that she is grateful that she will finally be able to return to the Philippines after waiting for the resolution of her case and thanked Prince Abdulaziz and the Government of Saudi Arabia for facilitating her exit from the Kingdom. “©
She also expressed her gratitude to President Duterte, Secretary Cayetano, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz, Ambassador Alonto and personnel of the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh as well as Executive Director Susan Ople of the Blas Ople Policy Center and members of the Filipino Community in Riyadh for their assistance.”©
Aside from providing her with legal assistance, the Philippine Embassy also provided Alagasi with medical and social assistance and kept her in constant touch with her family in North Cotabato.
In a related development, the DFA has called on Filipinos working in the oil-rich Saudi Arabia to remain vigilant following the latest missile attacks launched by Houti rebels in Yemen on Wednesday.
Ambassador Alonto said though the Saudi military was able to intercept the missiles that targeted the Ministry of Defense in the capital city of Riyadh and shot down two unmanned drones that targeted the Aramco oil storage facilities in the provinces of Najran and Jizan, there is still a need for the Filipino community to be vigilant.
“No casualties were reported in the latest attack against Riyadh but we again alerted members of the Filipino community to stay calm but vigilant,” Alonto said.
The envoy said there are 374, 495 Filipinos in Riyadh, 7, 850 in Najran and 15, 700 in Jizan.
Alonto said Wednesday’s attack was the fourth targeting Riyadh in the past five months.
Last month, the Saudi military also shot down several missiles fired by the Houti but two Egyptians on the ground were killed by falling debris.
Saudi Arabia is host to more than one million Filipinos.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affars Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the latest missile firing should be condemned, especially since it deliberately targeted heavily populated areas in the kingdom.
“These attacks that exposed not only Saudi civilians but also tens of thousands of Filipinos and other foreign workers to serious danger are a clear violation of international law. The Philippines stands solidly behind Saudi Arabia and condemns the latest missile attacks against the kingdom,” Cayetano who is accompanying President Duterte in a two-day working visit to Hongkong, in a separate statement.