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| Febe at the OWWA office last year, when an agency owner cursed her on the phone |
A Filipina former domestic helper who was forced to go home in April last year after being terminated when diagnosed with brain tumor, was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday, June 18, when she was given Php75k from the Akap Fund of the Department of Migrant Workers.
Febe
S. Anor, 53, said the money was transferred to her bank account that day, less
than a month after The SUN personally brought her case to DMW Secretary Hans
Cacdac, along with her medical records from Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern
Hospital in Chai Wan.
Anor
expressed gratitude at the unexpected windfall, and said it would help a lot in
her recovery, and in the small online business she started using the Php20,000
reintegration fund given her by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
She
also received an extra Php30,000 in medical assistance from OWWA, which she said she had used
for medical check-ups and medicines after she returned home.
Although
she is able to carry out her business selling frozen foods online, she said she
is still too weak to carry heavy stuff, so she asks customers to pick up their
orders from her home.
“Salamat ng marami sa tulong ninyo. Ingat po
kayong lagi (Thanks for all your help. Always take care) and God bless you
always,” said Febe by way of thanking all those who have helped her.
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| Febe was helped by her INK friends in boarding the plane that took her home |
What
prompted many people to help Febe, including her church mates at Iglesia ni
Kristo in Hong Kong, was her calm and kindly manner which never wavered even in
the face of seemingly insurmountable hardship.
Even
after she was sacked, forcing her to seek temporary shelter in a four-floor
walkup with help from her church friends while hardly able to walk, she never whimpered
nor said unkind words about her employer.
This,
even after her employer had all but abandoned her so she had to pay all her hospital
bills herself and for her food and accommodation.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
At
that time, the employer said Febe could not go back to their house anymore as
no one would be there to look after her while she was recuperating. The
employer said their employment agency would take care of providing her
temporary accommodation while she waited for the day set for her brain surgery.
But
as if she was being tested, the agency owner turned out to be mean, and had
tried to get her to fly back to the Philippines at the first opportunity, even
while she was still waiting for her next hospital appointment so she could have
the staples on her skull taken out.
When
she refused to comply, the agency owner only gave her soup as she recovered
from her surgery, leaving her with no choice to ask her friends for help again.
Worse,
she was not paid her full unpaid salary, and reimbursements for her medical
expenses
But
the worst was yet to come. When she sought help from OWWA so she could be paid
in full, the agency owner immediately called her on the phone, and started to
harass her. As she had set the phone on speaker mode, everyone who was in the
OWWA office at the time, including then welfare officer Dina Daquigan, heard
the employer shout f---g b—ch to Febe, before hanging up.
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| Febe still had these staples on her skull when the agency first tried to send her home |
Still
unshaken, Febe sought help from Assistant Labor Attache Angelica Sunga who took
prompt action, warning the agency owner that if the helper’s rightful claims
were not paid, all their pending transactions with the Migrant Workers Office
would be put on hold.
Not
surprisingly, the agency had a change of heart and decided to add $1,600 to the
amount originally offered to her. Febe did not think twice about accepting the offer,
happy that her long ordeal was finally about to end.
