Filipinas' heart-rending overseas saga...

Alicia Casanto has a terrible tale to tell of her stay in Kuwait.

Talking to reporters in Manila, she said her Kuwaiti employer forced her to work more than 12 hours a day without sufficient food. All her documents were also confiscated and she was not allowed to go out even just to buy medicines when she got sick.

Casanto was one of 43 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who arrived Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), in Manila, at 3.55pm on board Emirates Airline flight EK-332 from Dubai.

From the airport they were ferried to a halfway house, in Metro Manila’s Pasay City, provided by the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), where they will stay before going back to their respective provinces. The others stayed with their relatives in Manila.

Radio reports said most of the returning OFWs had worked as domestic helpers in Kuwait but fled to halfway houses provided by the Philippine government, after experiencing abusive treatment from their employers.

The OFWs have complained of physical abuse and violations of human rights, including nonpayment of salaries. Some of them said their employers treated them like animals.

OWWA Duty Officer Josie Damaso told journalists on Wednesday that the repatriated OFWs would undergo debriefing and medical tests.

She added that returning OFWs who may have been maltreated could avail of counseling service and livelihood assistance from government.

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