Annabelle Eroy-Fuertes spoke out in public to pay tribute to Romilyn Eroy-Ibanez.
“We want justice. My sister was such a good person. She didn’t deserve such a death,” Annabelle Eroy-Fuertes told GMANews.TV in Kidapawan City.
Labor Attache David Des T. Dicang of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Eastern Region (POLO-ERO) recently called Ibanez’s family in North Cotabato to inform them of her death.
The family asked for the government’s help but requested that their names not be made public. However, Fuertes eventually broke her silence. Ibanez died from acid burns and stab wounds. She was found in the kitchen of her employer’s residence in Alkhobar with knife wounds in her neck, abdomen and wrist as well as acid burns on her face, arms and legs. She was taken to King Fahd Hospital by the Red Crescent.
“Our parents have not heard the news yet. For sure, they would also be shocked. I don’t know how to break the news to them,” Eroy-Fuertes said.
Fuertes said that their parents, who are in Arkan, a town in North Cotabato, were wondering why they had not yet heard of Romilyn since she left home on May 31. She described Romilyn as “very pious.”
“My sister was a scholar of a Diocesan priest from elementary school until she completed college. She wanted to join the nunnery after college but because of poverty, she decided to work abroad,” Fuertes said.
After graduating, Romilyn was convinced by elder sister Romelie to work abroad as a domestic help.
Fuertes said that Romilyn and Romelie left the Philippines for the Middle East in May this year. Romelie went to Kuwait while Romilyn came to Saudi Arabia, adding that her other sister, Mira, had also been working as a domestic help in Egypt since 2007.
Fuertes asked the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in North Cotabato for help in repatriating Romilyn’s remains back to the Philippines, allowing the family to give her a decent burial.
In Riyadh, Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor announced that the Philippine Embassy would hire the best lawyer to fight the case after a police investigation in Alkhobar had concluded and once the identity of the culprit had been established. A police report on the case is expected on Saturday.
