A 34-year-old overseas Filipino worker in Kuwait has become paralyzed from the waist down after escaping her “abusive” employer by jumping from a window on the third floor two weeks ago.
“Mary”—a mother of two and a native of Cagayan Valley, suffered from a fractured spine and fractured left foot.
In an interview with ABS-CBN from her hospital bed, Mary recalled that on Jan. 21, after finishing her chores, she did a Tik Tok live with her online friends inside her room when her female employer barged in.
“She started slapping me and pulling my hair. She confiscated my phone and kept asking me where I planned to go. I explained to her I was just resting and doing Tiktok but she would not listen. She kicked me on my back and locked me in the room,” she said.
Fearing for her life, Mary decided to escape through a small window in her room on the third floor.
She was brought to the hospital by bystanders where she has been recuperating until now.
The Philippine embassy in Kuwait has also assigned a lawyer to handle her case against her employer.
“We have already filed the case and we will do our best to get justice,” said lawyer Zahra Shammouh Mary’s case surfaced days after the burnt body of Jullebee Ranara, a 35-year-old household worker, was found in a desert in Kuwait last month.
Ranara’s killing prompted the Philippine government to suspend the accreditation of new foreign recruitment agencies in Kuwait.
“Hold or deferring applications from new agencies for accreditation but otherwise all agencies business as usual,” Department of Migrant Workers spokesperson Toby Nebrida said Friday.
DMW Secretary Susan Ople earlier dismissed calls for a deployment ban.
Instead, she said the Philippines and the Kuwaiti government will discuss stricter safeguards, more responsive and concrete actions especially on calls for rescue and assistance from OFWs in Kuwait.