Covering our
domestic helpers abroad

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Almost all the national dailies this week carried the story of the housemaid working in Hanoi , whose case roused both shock and indignation in other countries, but especially in other Asian countries whose people seek employment in other lands.

The 24-year-old domestic helper, who had been abandoned by her mother in Hanoi at 11, had for 13 years endured abuse and torture from her bestial employers, who not only extracted from her inhuman labor, but also inflicted untold punishment in all those years.

The poor woman – a girl when she first got under their control – obviously did not know anything about her rights, about seeking release from her tormentors. The sufferings she went through, as reported by the Agence France Presse, included being beaten, shocked with electric cables, being kicked, starved, and made to kneel naked in cold weather when she failed to do all the things demanded of her.

Worst, she also was not paid for all the work she did in those 13 years. All she had to show for them were scars, and hematomas all over her emaciated body. According to the report, a neighbor, a septuagenarian, had been so concerned, she reported the matter to the police three times, but nothing had been done. Maybe because she had no family, and was illiterate and undocumented as well, the officials considered her less than human.

Unable to bear the sight of the poor helper, the old lady finally spirited her away and the case got to the media. Even the people of Hanoi were appalled at the cruelty of the couple. Intensive media attention on the case finally led to the charging of the couple who are now detained, and facing possible jail terms of ten to 18 years if found guilty.

Even as we feel outrage and sympathy for the woman, Nguyen Thi Binh, let us also think of our own young women who now work as domestic helpers in Asia, and in the Middle East . With all the benefits their earnings are bringing to the country, is their country taking steps to ensure that they are not exposed to such conditions as those revealed in Nguyen Thi Bonh's case?*