RIYADH/ALKHOBAR, 22 December 2005 — A Filipino official yesterday called on those who have accused two Philippine Embassy personnel of exploiting runaway women OFWs in the Eastern Region to come forward so that the culprits could be pinned down.
Labor Attaché Delmer R. Cruz issued the appeal as news of the alleged abuse swept the Filipino community in the Kingdom.
Cruz said he had looked into the allegations made by a group calling itself the Muslim-Christian Organization (MCO) but could not proceed further unless the accusers come forward and help him.
“We want to resolve this once and for all but there’s no case at the moment because there’s no complainant. So we are asking the community leaders or members who know about the report to please come forward so that we can pursue whoever is guilty of the alleged abuse,” he told Arab News.
Cruz said he made the same comments in a report he prepared for Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla, who had earlier ordered an investigation based on the MCO’s complaint.
“As I have instructed you over the phone, please look into these very serious allegations and submit your report as soon as possible,” Guinomla said in a memorandum dated Dec. 12 to Cruz, head of the Eastern Region Operations (ERO) in Alkhobar.
The Allegation
According to the MCO’s handwritten report to the embassy, Welfare Officer Danilo Flores and a driver named Jojo Casicas had been taking some of the distressed OFWs out of the POLO-OWWA shelter in Alkhobar and either abused them or “sold” them to other men.
Attached to the MCO complaint was a letter of someone named Rea Esperanza to an "Ate Jean" saying three other “young and pretty girls” were locked up in the apartment of Flores.
Esperanza claimed that Casicas also raped her once. “Itong dalawang ito ay hayop sa laman (These two are beasts),” the Rea Esperanza letter said.
The MCO letter demanded action from the embassy, with a threat that it would “handle the case” if nothing happens of their complaint.
Denials
Welfare Officer Flores and driver Casicas denied the accusations in their own letter to the ambassador.
In their lengthy letter dated Dec. 13, the duo said: ...we strongly deny the accusation of a certain Rea Esperanza. It is our belief that the complaints hurled against us were just a pigment (sic) of the imagination of those who want to besmirch our reputation as a public servant for the OFWs.”
They said the complaint “is just a desperate move of those who want us to be removed from this post so that they can assume control of the POLO-ERO operation and utilize public funds for their own selfish motives.”
The letter noted that runaway domestic helpers who seek their assistance are immediately endorsed to the police, while the skilled ones are endorsed to the Labor office.
“It is our policy that runaway OFWs should stay no longer than a week since we cannot accommodate them due to our limited space. If the case of the OFW will take long, specifically police cases, we immediately send them to Bahay Kalinga, Riyadh, for tempory shelter and endorse their respective cases to the Assistance to Nationals Section for follow-up.”
Flores and Casicas said they are open to an independent investigation by the Filipino community and the embassy.
“We are willing to face our faceless accusers and settle once and for all these serious allegations,” they wrote.
Non-Existent Group?
Ambassador Guinomla and Cruz yesterday said they were not aware of the existence of the MCO.
“It’s not one of the ACPs,” said Guinomla, referring to the so-called Accredited Community Partners who have registered with the embassy in Riyadh and in the Eastern Region.
He clarified, however, that they were not belittling (minamaliit) the MCO, if it ever exists. If Flores and Casicas really did what they are being accused of, they have to face the consequences, he added.
Cruz said the problem is that there is no such woman as Rea Esperanza among the wards of the POLO-OWWA in the Eastern Region. He said there was one named Ria Zapanta Esperanzate at the Saudi Social Welfare Administration (SSWA) in Dammam, but she denied being the letter writer cited by the MCO.
Esperanzate wrote the ambassador on Dec. 20, saying that she was not the same Rea Esparanza and that she has no connection whatsoever to the MCO or its representatives, and that she knows no one named “Ate Jean.”
Esperanzate, 30 years old, emphasized that she was a “pure Tagalog” from Taytay in Rizal province, near Manila, whereas the letter writer cited by the MCO was apparently a Bisaya or someone with such a regional accent. She further distanced herself from any insinuation of having been exploited. She said she has been “detained” at the SSWA since July 2 and had never been to the OWWA office or any “safehouse” maintained by the POLO-OWWA.
“I was brought to the SSWA last July 4, 2005 and the first time I met Mr. Danilo Flores was last July 11, 2005 when he and Mr. Najeer Oquendo visited us here,” she said. Esperanzate’s letter to the embassy showed that her handwriting was far different from that of Esperanza.
Present Status
Asked about the status of the case, Cruz said, “there is no case at the moment because there is no complainant.”
He said Rea Esperanza and Ria Esperanzate are two different persons. “If there is, indeed, a Rea Esperanza, let her come out so that we could pursue the case," he said.
He also appealed to OFWs posting comments in e-mails “not to make premature conclusions.”
“It’s easy to smear one’s reputation. But what if the allegations turn out to be false?” he said.