OFW jumps from building in Taiwan to escape rape, murder attempt

Eden Abarientos is not the first OFW who chose to risk falling to her death rather than suffer rape or physical abuse.

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — It was a choice between breaking her bones or being raped and murdered.

A Filipina caregiver in Taiwan was forced to jump from the window of a second floor apartment to escape her employer who attempted to rape her. Eden Abarientos, a 43-year-old caregiver working in Taiwan, suffered broken bones and severe injuries after she jumped from her employer’s window sometime past midnight last Sept 9.

Abarientos first arrived in Taiwan the previous August 31. Soon after she began working for her employer Chang Chiung-Liang, she was sexually harassed by the latter. In her sworn affidavit submitted to Migrante International, Abarientos said her employer touched her breasts and private parts while she worked in the kitchen.

“He would do this to me everyday, almost every hour. He told me to go to his room, but I refused. He offered me money, but I still didn’t go,” she said.

Abarientos had been with her tormentor for a week before she made her attempt to escape. She said she heard her employer talking to someone about killing her.

“I heard that they would kill me and then place me inside a plastic bag,” she said.

On the evening of September 8, she cooked dinner. She was the last in the household to eat, but when she finally ate she sensed that drugs were added and mixed to her food.

“I felt my mouth dry up, I had no saliva. I immediately drank a glass of water which I mixed with a lot of sugar. Then I jumped from the apartment,” she said.

The police found her the following morning at 6:00 a.m. and took her to the hospital. The rescuing officers also called her agency in Taiwan.

A certain Mrs. Chiu, a representative of the recruitment agency, went to the hospital and promised to pay for her hospital bills. The woman, however, warned her that she should sign a statement stating that she would not file charges against her employer when she returns to the Philippines or else she would be killed the following day.

A Chinese citizen, a Filipina and the son of Abarientos’ employer spoke about her to the representatives of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco), which is the de facto Philippine embassy in Taiwan.

Abarientos said she got no help from the embassy or from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officials in Taiwan. Her week’s worth of work was unpaid.

“I received not the slightest assistance from the OWWA or the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was the recruitment agency that paid for my ticket home. My husband met me at the airport. Throughout my ordeal and immediately after, the government did not help me,” she said.

Abarientos was repatriated last October 5.

Escaping cruel and abusive employers

Abarientos is not the first OFW who chose to risk falling to her death rather than suffer rape or physical abuse. Last year on September 5, Hadeah Macalpang, 33, jumped from the second floor of her employer’s apartment and landed on the pavement. She sustained a broken left leg and fractured hip from her fall.

Earlier this year in August, an OFW working as a household service worker in Kuwait also jumped from her employer’s house to escape the cruelty of her employer . Margie Pontillas in a report on Abs-Cbn Interactive was quoted as saying that her female employer was vicious and refused to feed her for days on end.

Pontillas suffered a fractured right foot and broken toe nail, but when examined by doctors, it was discovered that she also had bite marks on her left arm and right forefinger.

“She bit me on the hand and on the arm. I thought it was better to jump from the building because at the time she was throwing so many things at me,” she said.

The mother of five arrived in Kuwait from Davao in February 2, 2011. Her first employer was kinder than the first, but she left when the former did not allow her to make a cash advance on her salary: she needed money for her mother’s hospital bills.

She returned to her recruitment agency, and it sent to a second employer, the one who physically abused her.

“My employers, husband and wife, would often fight, and the woman directed her anger at me. I called the Philippine embassy and the OWWA, and they told me to escape if I had any chance of doing so. They said I had at least made my complaints known already. I also called the police emergency numbers but they did not do anything because they said they might be charged with trespassing if they attempted to interfere. I had no choice but to escape by jumping out the window, I couldn’t let them kill me,” she said.

Pontillas saw her chance to escape on July 16. She jumped and lay on the pavement with her fractured foot. Fortunately for her, a taxi came. She got in and directed it to take her to the OWWA office in Kuwait.

She spent two weeks at the Al-Razi Orthopedic Hospital before she was assisted by the Abs-Cbn Middle East News Bureau in contacting the embassy.

One year death anniversary of Terril Atienza

In a separate but related development, on November 20, Migrante International marked the first death anniversary of OFW Terril Atienza who was killed in Mongolia, a victim of human trafficking. Circumstances surrounding her death pointed to foul play and organ trafficking.

When Atienza’s remains were flown back to the country on December 9, 2011 her heart was missing. Her whole body was bruised, beaten and burnt. Autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Medico-Legal Division further revealed that her other internal organs were ‘sectioned with missing portions’. A rag was extracted from inside her body.

With a tourist visa, Atienza left to work in Singapore in 2010. After one and a half years, under threat of imprisonment, she was sent to Mongolia by her foreign agency, purportedly to complete a two-year contract. She worked as a domestic worker for Sergelen Davaakhu, Austria’s Honorary Consul to Mongolia and President of the International Federation of Business and Professional in Mongolia. In her four month service for Davaakhu, she was only able to send US$184 to her family.

On November 20, 2011, she was found dead in her room. Initial autopsy reports from the National Institute for Forensic Science of Mongolia indicated that Atienza died of “severe intoxication from an unknown source.” When her body was repatriated and examined by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), it was discovered that her heart was missing and a rag was found inside her body. The NBI autopsy report stated that her death was “probably secondary to hypertensive cardiovascular disease” due to a stabbing incident.

On Atienza’s first death anniversary, her family, led by 17-year-old daughter Nyrriel and husband Nilo, went to the offices of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the DFA to follow-up their appeal that justice be found for Atienza. They left the offices disappointed.

Violence against women OFWs

According to Gina Esguerra, Migrante International secretary-general, the case of Atienza, Abarientos, Macalpang and Pontillas are only a few of the many cases of violence against women migrant workers. She said that on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Children, Migrante International will demand that the Aquino administration push for justice for the OFWs.

“OFWs like Abarientos were victimized not only by their cruel employers but also by the government in its neglect. It is precisely the government’s lack of efficiency and immediate response to the needs of OFWs that make OFWs vulnerable to abuse and injustice,” Esguerra said.

Migrante’s Esguerra said the violence against women migrant workers and children will be one of the highlights in the witness testimonies for the upcoming International Migrants’ Tribunal which will be
held on November 28-29 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. It is organized by the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS), International Migrants’ Alliance (IMA) and the International Women’s Alliance (IWA).

The Tribunal will put on trial the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) as it is being facilitated by sending and receiving countries, including the Philippines. It is expected to be attended by judges and witnesses from different parts of the world.

Migrante International and other migrants’ groups and advocate organizations will be witnesses to talk about the intensification of labor export in migrant-sending and receiving countries and its adverse effects on migrant workers. (https://www.bulatlat.com)

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  1. · Edit

    Killed OFWs abroad had stories that are so sad to contemplate. It becomes sadder because OWWA and Philippine government itself failed to help them on time or never at all. Until when shall we send our millions of workers to hostile foreign land? Unless the government can provide domestic employment, problems of dead
    OFWs going home will still continue.

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