A 36-YEAR-old Filipino housemaid who claims she was sexually assaulted by her Nicosia employer after being kept a virtual slave for four months said yesterday she would stay in Cyprus to fight and clear her name.
“I want to fight this. I have to prove that this is true for my dignity. I’m the third Filipino who ran away from this house,” Angelina said.
In the meantime, the 36-year-old is jobless and penniless and has been put up by a Nicosia family with connections to immigrant support group KISA.
“I have no money and no job. They are very kind to me. They give me food and good advice and tell me I have to fight and be strong. If not for them maybe I’d be out on the street,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.
Angelina said she felt indebted to the family.
“I’ve been staying with them so long and I want to start my work.”
Last month the Cyprus Mail reported Angelina’s plight after she managed to escape from her employers. She was put in touch with KISA through a friend who worked in the neighbourhood and had seen her crying in the garden.
Sobbing throughout the interview Angelina wondered where she would be without the immigrant support group’s help.
“What if there was no KISA? What if there is no organisation like this? Who always lend a hand? What am I to do? Who will listen to me? Nobody,” she said.
During the four months Angelina was employed as a housemaid, she said she was forced to work 15 hour days, never given a day off, cleaned both the family’s home and business premises, and was only permitted to eat lunchtime leftovers once a day.
She was allowed out once a month, accompanied by a company messenger, to deposit her salary with the bank.
“I had no rights. I was a human robot,” she said.
On May 18, after escaping, the 36-year-old lodged a complaint against her employers. A hearing was called to try and resolve the dispute but Angelina’s employers cancelled three times.
The Filipino’s complaint has since been forwarded to the appropriate migration department committee to deal with. According to KISA, it will take a minimum of four months and a maximum of a year before it reaches a decision, although when an employer refuses to attend a hearing, the committee normally rules in favour of the employee.
In the meantime, Angelina needs to find new employment.
At the beginning of June, the Filipino said she had found another employer but due to the migration department’s delay in issuing her a work permit, which it said it would do pending the committee’s decision, she lost the job.
“I found a second job recently but when I had to explain I had no release papers and what my situation is they were not interested in employing me,” she said.
KISA said it had contacted a lawyer to file a civil suit against Angelina’s employers to claim compensation regarding her salary, employment conditions and work hours.
The sexual assault was reported to police last month but Angelina has still had no word back.
Angelina added: “I just hope that this finishes soon because I have a family back in Manila that need my salary to finish their studies. I help my nieces and nephews because we are not rich. I want nothing. I just came here to work.”
