An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) jumped from the third floor of a building in Dubai to escape the agency that kept her inside the building for a week, without food and water.
According to the Filipina whose name was withheld for her protection, she found a job at the said agency and was promised she would get an employer once she arrives in Dubai. Someone fetched her from the airport, and she was told that the employer would collect her soon.
Photo credit: GMA News
But the employer never arrived – and the agency prevented her from leaving the building. What’s worse, she was not given food or water, nor was she allowed to use a cellphone to contact her family and friends.
Stuck in the building and afraid for her safety, the woman found a way to escape the room. But the agency office was located on the third floor of the building.
Photo credit: GMA News
Still, desperate to escape, the woman jumped. It no longer mattered to her what might happen to her in the fall; she just wanted to really get out of the agency’s clutches.
Thankfully, though she suffered some injuries during the fall, the Filipina was safe. Another Filipina had seen her fall and rushed her to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) office in Dubai. There, she found help for her hospitalization.
Photo credit: GMA News
Though she survived the fall, she had to wear what appears to be a brace on her back.
The poor OFW is hoping to get back home to her family as she wants to see her children, but she can’t leave the emirate because her passport was taken by the agency. The POLO is now investigating the matter and trying its best to get the passport back from the agency so this OFW could go home.
Photo credit: GMA News
POLO Dubai Labor Attache Felicitas Bay issued a warning to prospective OFWs to always check whether the agency and the job offer are legitimate before flying to Dubai or some other place as they might also end up like this poor woman.
Watch the news report here:
Also see: Don’t Ever Agree to Jobs on Visit Visa in the UAE, Jobseekers Warned
