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Sexual abuse: maids remain vulnerable lot

Barely a month in the emirate, the middle-aged Filipina housemaid told Khaleej Times that she ran away from her employer whose brother allegedly raped her.

Speaking to the Press on condition of anonymity, the Filipina said she opted not to file charges or make her case public as she is worried the news may reach the Philippines and traumatise her children.

“I just want to go back home and be with my children. I don’t even want to think any more of what I went through. I have worked in Saudi Arabia and in Kuwait but I never experienced anything similar to this,” the Filipina said as her voice cracked while narrating her ordeal.

Her case is not an isolated case. Every now and then, the Philippine Overseas Labour Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) in Dubai receives Filipinas who claim they have been sexually harassed or raped by a close relative of their employers or the employers themselves.

Philippine Labour Attache Vicente Cabe said that Filipinas who are bound to work overseas as domestic helpers are required to undergo a special kind of Pre-departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) at the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) in Manila.

During the PDOS, Filipinas are trained and given information materials on how to prevent rape. Despite that, there are cases of sexual abuses of housemaids.

Cabe said the issue can be attributed to many factors. “Although we orient the housemaids on what they should do to prevent rape, there are things you cannot determine beforehand. For instance, employers or their relatives may really have bad intentions towards the maid or the maid may have failed to follow certain preventive measures,” the labour attache said.

One of the materials handed out to Filipina housemaids is a small white brochure written in Tagalog, the Philippine’s vernacular.

Cabe said that as per procedures, once a housemaid reports to them that she has allegedly been raped, representatives of the POLO-OWWA directly bring her to the hospital for the mandatory medical check-up, which also forms a big part of physical evidence.

The case will then be taken to the police, who will call the other party (employer or the alleged sexual offender) for their side of the story.

“Once the authorities conclude that there is enough merit to file charges, based on the evidence and statements presented to them, they will then file a case at the Public Prosecution,” Cabe explained.

Cabe also encourage the housemaids to report to the POLO-OWWA as soon as a man in their employer’s household has attempted to harass them.

The Filipina whom Khaleej Times interviewed said she was aware of the training given at PDOS, as well as the information materials on preventing rape. “But in the actual event where you’re cornered, anything can be and is done against your will,” she said.

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