MANILA, 10 August 2007 — A top Philippine government official called on officials of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and of the Department of Foreign Affairs to bring home as soon as possible ‘Melissa,’ the Filipino domestic helper caught on video allegedly being raped by her employer in Saudi Arabia.
A report on ABS-CBN said that Vice President Noli de Castro met yesterday with OWWA Administrator Marianito Roque and DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. and ordered them to look for ‘Melissa’ and bring her home.
Leila Cabinian, another domestic helper on vacation from a Middle Eastern country and purportedly a friend of ‘Melissa’ was also at the meeting.
She again showed the three officials the video of ‘Melissa’ being raped by her employer. But she pointed out she did not even know the family name of this “Melissa.”
The country where Leila was deployed was initially kept a secret but viewers who sent some letters to ABS-CBN said the stamps on Leila’s passport definitely proved she came from Saudi Arabia.
“Bandila (ABS-CBN’s late night news show) withheld identification of the country where the was working, but when they flashed the passport on screen the familiar Saudi visa was easily recognized,” an OFW in Saudi Arabia said in an e-mail message to abs-cbnNEWS.com.
Leila also said it was the son of Melissa’s employer who was in the video.
She said she had no idea of the address of Melissa’s employer although Roque and Conejos said this was no problem since all they had to do was run down the list of Filipino domestics deployed to Saudi Arabia.
However, Leila did emphasize that the case was not unique to Melissa. As a matter of fact, she said many domestics in the Middle East were being treated as sex slaves by their employers.
She said even she had experienced this and her employer had tried to take advantage of her.
“Nakakaligtas lang ako dahil lagi akong may-dalang kutsilyo (I was able to get out of it because I was carrying a knife),” Leila told ABS-CBN reporter Henry Omaga-Diaz.
Still, de Castro was insistent that Roque and Conejos find out who Melissa is and bring her back as soon as possible.
Leila was the domestic helper who brought home the video of Melissa being raped which was in her cell phone.
According to Leila, she chanced upon her employer and his Arab friend talking about the incident which he got on his cell phone camera. At that time, he sent it to his friend’s cell phone via Bluetooth.
By chance, Leila’s own cell phone was open, as was her Bluetooth so she also got a video of the rape.
From the video, Leila recognized Melissa who had already narrated that incident to her. “Kinukuwento kung paano niya nakuha yung video (She narrated how they took the video),” Leila said.
The video was allegedly taken by Leila’s sponsor while the son of Melissa’s employer was raping her.
It showed the son tying up Melissa’s hands before stripping her of her clothes and raping her. It also showed how hard Melissa tried to resist, but was unsuccessful in resisting, the rape.
Melissa couldn’t do anything but cry. She allegedly told Leila this was being perpetrated on a daily basis by her employer’s son. “Araw-araw ‘pag wala ang pinaka-tatay tsaka nila ako pinagsasamantalahan (Whenever the father was not there, they would rape me),” Leila quoted Melissa as saying.
Leila said Melissa related that that was not all and when the friends of her employers’ son went to their house, Melissa was offered up to them. “Pag may dumadating na kaibigan, pinapasikat at inaalok sa kanila si Melissa (Whenever some of his friends came, he would show off and offer Melissa),” Leila said.
Melissa said she could not run away since her employer had confiscated her passport and was not even paying her.
She begged Leila to help her by showing the video to the proper authorities upon her return to Manila.
