Plea for justice after Saudi woman forced Filipina maid to drink bleach

bleach
Domestic worker Agnes Mancilla remains in a serious condition after her employer allegedly forced her to drink bleach

A Filipina domestic worker is in a serious condition in Saudi Arabia after her employer allegedly forced her to drink bleach.

In a statement today (Monday, April 16) the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Agnes Mancilla remains in a serious condition at the King Fahad Central Hospital, two weeks after her ordeal.

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“We would like to assure our kababayans that we are working closely with authorities in Jizan to make sure that justice will be given to Agnes Mancilla,” Consul General Edgar Badajos said.

The DFA said Mancilla was rushed unconscious to the hospital by concerned Filipinos on April 2 after her female employer allegedly forced her to swallow household bleach.

Mancilla underwent a laparotomy immediately after she was taken to the hospital to flush the bleach out of her stomach. 

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Doctors also found burn marks on her back.

Badajos said consulate officials had visited Mancilla and made representations with authorities in Jizan to ensure appropriate charges were filed against her employer, who has been arrested.

He added that Mancilla had been working in Saudi Arabia since 2016. Friends had alleged that she was repeatedly physically abused by her employer. She was also refused pay for her work.

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On Friday, we reported on the case of Pahima Alagasi, who returned to the Philippines after a four-year fight for justice after her Saudi Arabian employer poured boiling water down her back.

On Saturday, she met President Duterte, who said the government was doing everything possible to put an end to abuses against Filipino workers in the Middle East.

Duterte has ordered the ban on deployment of overseas workers to Kuwait following reports of abuses, such as the killing of Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in February. As we reported earlier this month, her former employers have been sentenced to death for murder.

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