"We are trying to locate the exact location of the villa where Ofie (not her real name), Leonora (not her real name) and five other maids are staying," Philippine Embassy Charge d'Affaires Ezzedin H. Tago told Arab News on Thursday.

The exact location of the villa where the women are illegally residing is unknown. The house is believed to be located within two kilometers from Majmaa.

Leonora, who claims she was raped by her sponsor and later fled after he placement agency didn't respond to her complaint, has been trying to seek help from the Philippine Embassy to return home. Meanwhile, the other six women residing at the villa have been urging Leonora to leave because they don't want to be discovered and deported. Now one of those six women has reportedly come out saying she would also like to be repatriated.

Tago said that if and when the exact location of the villa can be ascertained, the embassy would rescue Ofie and Leonora in coordination with the local police. The women do not have a clear idea of their precise location.

Talking to Arab News by phone Ofie said that she was working as a house cook and escaped from employer on Aug. 10.

"Before I went on vacation last year, my employer, a doctor working at the Security Forces Hospital, promised to increase my monthly salary from SR1,000 to SR1,200," she said. "But when I came back, his wife, who is a teacher, was giving me the same salary of SR1,000; she told me not to tell her husband about it."

She added that the situation became worse when her employer hired another domestic worker, an Eritrean, with a salary of SR1,500.

"The Eritrean started giving orders to me and when I did not follow her she complained to the employer's wife, saying that I did not want to work," Ofie said.

Ofie said that she was being asked to work outside the kitchen.

"I told her that I had been hired mainly to cook food and do nothing else. Besides, I wake up at 5 a.m. and she at 11 a.m. She should have been be doing the things was asking me to do," she said.

The circumstances took a turn for the worse when the Eritrean complained about Ofie's work, angering the wife. Ofie said she then contacted a Filipino beautician (who has since returned to the Philippines) and they agreed to leave their employers.

"Through another contact, we were able to reach the villa where we're staying now. It's also here where I met Leonora and the other maids who don't want to go home yet because they still want to work," she said.

She said that she did not have money but if the embassy could bear the costs of her repatriation, she'd like to go back to the Philippines to rejoin her family in Ifugao province north of Manila.

Ofie and her husband have three children.

The women work illegally and are being managed by a Pakistani man who could face jail time for housing and contracting workers who have fled their sponsors and now have illegal status in the Kingdom.