RIYADH, 27 August 2004 — Philippine Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Jose Brillantes said yesterday that he would order the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh to “exhaust all possible ways” to help prosecute the case of a Filipino maid who died allegedly of severe beating.

Brillantes said that he will instruct the embassy to hire a lawyer to prosecute the case and ensure that justice prevail for Erna Franco, a native of Angeles, Pampanga.

“We will look into the circumstances regarding the incident and the embassy should exhaust all possible ways and secure the necessary processes regarding the case,” he said.

Brillantes made the statement after Arab News contacted him in connection with a statement by the group Migrante International demanding the recall of Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla as a result of the case.

Franco died at the Riyadh Central Hospital (Shumaissy Hospital) where her yet unnamed employer brought her Friday for treatment due to injuries. Two women — a Saudi and a Moroccan — are in police custody and under investigation in connection with Franco’s death.

When contacted last night, Ambassador Guinomla said that he had asked his concerned staff, specifically Vice Consul Jun Israel, to report to the embassy to discuss the matter.

Israel had been reported as saying the information gathered by the embassy was that Franco was severely beaten when she was brought by her employer to the hospital for treatment. Despite doctors' intervention, the victim did not survive.

Israel said police were withholding information pending medical and police investigation. Guinomla said he will ask police authorities to conduct an extensive investigation of the case.

In a statement, Migrante Secretary-General Maita Santiago said they wanted the recall of Guinomla for his alleged “inaction” while many OFWs are being abused by their employers in the Kingdom.

She said that aside from Franco, 36-year-old Milagrina Salvador Guinacaran, a widow, was also reportedly severely beaten by her Saudi employer before she died in her hometown of Pamplona in Cagayan province — five days after she returned home on June 26. She had worked in Riyadh for almost two years.

“The list of OFWs beaten, killed, unjustly imprisoned and maimed in Saudi Arabia gets longer everyday. Under Amb. Guinomla’s command, Filipino migrant workers’ rights are trampled upon. He’s either completely clueless, utterly inutile or grossly guilty of criminal neglect — whichever, he’s apparently of little to use (sic) to Filipino migrants in the Kingdom,” Santiago said.

She added that Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo should recall him again immediately.

“Amb. Guinomla’s (in)actions in Saudi Arabia must be investigated and he should be made accountable to the OFWs he’s supposed to serve,” Santiago said.

She added that there are approximately 915,000 OFWs in Saudi Arabia, with 169,011 deployed in the Kingdom last year.

Santiago said that along with the death of Franco, others that testify to the gross abuse of OFWs in Saudi Arabia are Jeanly Azucena, a 28-year-old Ilonga, and Tahia Usman, a 39-year-old Filipino Muslim from Dalawan, Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

She said that Azucena broke both her legs recently after she jumped from an eight-foot concrete fence at dawn to escape from the home of her abusive employer. She arrived on April 14, 2002 and even after her contract expired, her employer would not let her leave.

She told a Saudi newspaper that she had to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a camera was installed in her room.

Santiago added: “For her part, a bruised and black-eyed Tahia, a mother of four, said ... that her employers did not want her to go out of the house and they also restricted her use of the telephone...”

When her employer saw her standing at the gate, she was beaten with a wooden plank.

Santiago added that “Along with physical abuses against OFWs, Amb. Guinomla and Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas should also be investigated for the implementation of the anti-migrant schemes in the Kingdom which attack Filipino workers (sic) wages and diminish their rights.”