By Joseph Jubelag
General Santos City – The family of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who died in Saudi Arabia last September, has sought the help of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in investigating the circumstances surrounding the victim’s death, which Saudi authorities claimed was a suicide.
Relatives of Maricris Serato, 27, who hailed from Malapatan, Sarangani, expressed serious doubts over a report submitted by Saudi authorities, claiming that the victim took her own life by ingesting insecticide on September 29, 2017 while working as a domestic helper in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The victim’s remains arrived in the Philippines on January 4, and were buried last Sunday in her hometown in Barangay Lun Masla, Malapatan, Sarangani.
Angelito Serato, the victim’s husband who is a member of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), said their family doubted the report issued by the forensic doctor of Saudi Ministry of Health which indicated that the victim’s death was caused by cardiac arrest after she drank insecticide.
Maryche Salili, the victim’s sister, said they were informed of the victim’s death through her sister’s recruitment agency, Techsearch International Corp. which relayed to them the information that her sister committed suicide in Saudi Arabia.
She said she was still able to talk with her sister through Facebook wherein the latter informed her that she was planning to go home on October 1 after she expressed fears over possible sexual abuse she could suffer from the son of her employer, who is a police officer in Saudi Arabia.
She alleged that Maricris had confided to her that Yousef Sulaiman Abdulaziz Alhawas, the son of her employer identified as Abdulrahman Albakri, tried to sexually molest her.