Edelyn Eborda Astudillo

Edelyn, a loving wife and mother of three from Mariveles, Bataan, traveled to Taif, Saudi Arabia, to work as a migrant domestic worker in 2015. Her decision to work abroad was due to her family's dire financial situation attributable to lay-offs at her previous factory job in the Philippines. Almost immediately, Edelyn experienced abuse from her employers. Her phone was taken away, and she was only allowed to contact her family once a month. 

On August 26th, 2015, her husband Crisanto received a phone call from a distraught Edelyn asking to speak to their children in the middle of the day. However, during this time, her children were in school. Prior to the call ending, Crisanto could hear Edelyn's employer in the back yelling, "Stop it! Stop it!". Edelyn has not been heard from since.

Edelyn's husband and children have not received closure or justice, while her employers have not been penalized. They reported Edelyn "missing" on September 21st, 2015, after a Philippine consulate contacted them regarding Edelyn's whereabouts in December 2015. Due to the Kafala System, Edelyn's employers are protected. Unfortunately, there are previous reports of employers claiming their domestic worker has "run away," but the truth is much more malicious. Many of the missing migrant domestic workers have either been murdered by their employers or enslaved and isolated to avoid payment and proper treatment.

 (McQue, 2021)

Joanna Demafelis 

Joanna, a sister and a daughter from Iloilo, left for Kuwait in 2014 to earn money to repair their family home destroyed by a previous typhoon. Rather than attend college, Joanna wanted to earn money to help her family and help pay her younger sibling's tuition. Joanna's phone calls home were brief and rare throughout her period in Kuwait, and she never disclosed any problems. 

In 2016, Joanna's family stopped receiving phone calls, and in December, they notified Filipino authorities. According to the Demafelis family, authorities did not properly care for Joanna's case. Due to the high number of complaints to the Filipino labor officer in Kuwait, Joanna's case was not highly prioritized. In February 2018, Joanna's mutilated remains were found inside a freezer of an abandoned apartment. Her body was flown back to the Philippines for a proper funeral with her family. 

Joanna's death sparked a dispute between the Philippines and Kuwait governments, leading former President Duterte to ban Filipinos from working in Kuwait. This ban was eventually lifted after the Kuwaiti government signed a labor pact to regulate the employment of migrant workers. However, this pact did not prevent future abuses and killings of Filipina migrant domestic workers in the country.

(Gomez, 2018)

Maria de Santos and Manilyn Germono 

Maria, whose real name is hidden for protection, is from Quezon City. She worked as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia for four months in horrendous conditions, where she was forced to work long hours with no pay and only eat leftover food from her employers' plates. Maria decided she was going to leave. She was attacked and forced to endure a strip search upon confronting her employers. Maria was able to flee and get support from Migrante International, a local shelter. 

Manilyn, a mother of two and a domestic worker from Saudi Arabia, fled from her employer after working for seven months. Manilyn has a tumor on her thyroid gland, for which she was receiving medical treatment before being employed. Her medical information was known to her employer prior to her contract signing. However, Manilyn's employer refused to let her receive medical treatment while in Saudi Arabia. He would also physically assault her often, even pushing her down a flight of stairs. Manilyn was able to get to the Philippine embassy shelter, where over 200 women and children are temporarily living due to employment abuse.

(Falconer, 2015)

Rowena

Rowena is a mother and lola, who has been working in Bahrain since 2019. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, her employer stopped paying her wage along with three other Filipina workers. Rowena sleeps on a pile of blankets next to a desk, and she must get up very early each morning to protect herself from her employer. She has reported that her employer would inappropriately grope and stroke her if she was found alone. 

Due to her wage cut, Rowena was unable to buy a return ticket home. She also was unaware of the repatriation flights the Philippines government was offering. In February 2021, the Bahrain government renewed visitor visas, which included Rowena’s, due to the pandemic, and has since brought her to the care of the Philippines Embassy in Bahrain.

(Redfern, 2021)