Two Filipinas hoping to land a job in Kuwait as domestic workers found themselves under horrifying conditions in the hands of a brutal employer, a news release by Kuwait Times said.
Rhea and Flora, came to work for the same employer in Al Andalus in December 2014, but soon experienced, in their own account, ‘hell’ for eight months. They endured brutality during those months until finally got the chance to escape the employer in August.

Rhea got the first taste of her female employer’s cruelty just two days after arrival.

“I was beaten with a huge wooden paddle on my back only two days after starting work. My employer told me I was beaten because I worked slowly, but it didn’t end there – she kept up her cruel ways against us on a daily basis,” Rhea said.

Rhea added that in February, she was punished by inserting a spice bottle in her private parts for cleaning the bathroom slowly.

“She called me in the kitchen and told me to remove my underwear. When I refused, she grabbed me and forcibly removed my panties. She then inserted the bottle of spice up my private parts, but this wasn’t enough – she daubed the spices on my genitals,” Rhea narrated between sobs.

“Because of that incident, I have no monthly period now – it just stopped. There was another brutal incident too. Once I cooked rice – you know we like to eat rice – but she got very angry about it and held a scissor over my head, saying she would cut my tongue. But she failed because I was shielding it, but she managed to cut my lips. I was bloodied and cried a lot,” Rhea added.

Flora narrated a different but equally brutal experience with the female sponsor.

“She shaved our hair twice. Both of us experienced the same brutality from our female employer – the eight months were very vicious. In fact, she also tried to gouge our eyeballs, pounded our hands and fingers and was happy seeing us scared and bloodied. We all have bite marks on our bodies, because for her this was normal,” Flora claimed, showing scars on her hands and back. Rhea has tens of scars as well, including deformed fingers. “She wanted to see blood on our bodies – she was happy seeing us in pain,” Flora said. “If we were slow in our work, she would bring us to the veranda, tell us to prepare ice water, remove our dresses and pour the water on us in between beatings,” she added.

While the wife was a cruel employer, her husband was very kind, according to the helpers, but was “scared of his wife.”

“The baba would shout at us, but would explain later that he did so to spare us from harsh torture by our madam,” Flora said.
On August 8, the two Filipinas managed to escape while their employer was away. They went straight to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and transferred us to the Assistance to Nationals Unit (ATNU) the following day.

After finding out that their helpers have absconded, the employer called the women’s husbands and said they ranaway with their boyfriends. Yet, before the accusation was thrown against the poor helpers, their families were already aware of the maltreatment and are aware of the real story.

When the duo reached out to their employment agency to report the abuses, they were told to hold on and stay at the employer’s house, otherwise pay the full amount spent by the employer. An employer in Kuwait spends about KWD1,000 (over P152,000) in order to hire a Filipina helper.

After almost a year at the house, Rhea received only three months’ salary, while Flora received two months’ salary.

Rhea and Flora spent close to two months fighting for their case when they were brought to a police station by Mar Hassan, an ATNU office. But soon they accuse Hassan of allegedly settling their case in exchange for money from their employer.

“We thought that our case was progressing well. At 5 pm on September 21, the two of us were brought to the police in Andalus by Mar Hassan, and left there overnight. We don’t know why, but we saw our employer there. Hassan told us that we were being deported because we had an absconding case filed against us and our dues would be sent home later.”

The two were shocked after being told they were being deported without receiving a resolution of their case.

“That night, a Kuwaiti come to us and told us to drop the case because we would lose the case anyway and only our lawyer will benefit. He told us to drop the case, go back home and the employer will pay whatever amount we need,” the two claimed. “We told Mar Hassan that we don’t want to stay in police custody, but he reminded us that we were being detained because of the absconding case. The following day, he came with our bags, indicating that maybe we would be deported soon. Thank God the vice consul came to our rescue and was able to take us back to the embassy,” Rhea said.

Hassan defended his actions saying that in compliance with a request of the Ministry of Interior, and part of the legal process in Kuwait, the Filipina helpers were brought to the police station to positively identify their employer. With the absconding case they faced, the Filipinas had to be detained and there was nothing the Philippine embassy could do about it.

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