Pinay jumps from building in Jordan to escape abuse

A Filipina household worker in Jordan suffered broken bones after jumping recently from the third floor of an apartment building to escape an abusive employer, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported on Tuesday. She is now in the care of the Philippine labor office in Amman.


Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Estebal Conejos Jr. told Senator Manuel Villar in a letter that Dianna Lalaine Castillo is now at the Filipino Workers’ Resource Center of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office after being released by Prince Hamza Hospital, where she was treated for injuries sustained in her fall.


“Her case is being handled by the Embassy’s legal counsel, Atty. Ghazi Al Odat, who filed a case against her employer who physically abused her,” Conejos informed Villar in the letter dated July 16.


Villar called the attention of the DFA to Castillo’s plight last June 25.


The senator said Castillo’s family sought the help of his Office for OFW Concerns after she escaped from her employer. She said she was whipped with barbed wire almost every day.


Conejos did not identify the employer but he said the embassy in Jordan is now compelling Castillo’s recruitment agency to repatriate her.


“The Embassy’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) team, in coordination with POLO, is compelling her recruitment agency in Jordan to provide her with a return ticker to Manila so that she could be repatriated as soon as possible,” Conejos wrote Villar.-Interaksyon (July 17, 2012 6:42PM)