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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Distressed worker home from Kuwait after 8 years in PH halfway house

Distressed worker home from Kuwait after 8 years in PH halfway house

Published Dec 1, 2020 02:35 pm

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said the longest staying distressed worker in the government’s half-way home in Kuwait finally went home on Sunday, November 29.

(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

The Labor department said Minerva Torijano, who stayed at the Migrant Workers and Other Filipino Resource Center for eight years, was repatriated along with 76 wards of the half-way house via Kuwait Airways.

In a statement, DoLE said Torijano finally rejoined her family after winning her case against a Kuwaiti policeman who raped her years ago.

According to Labor Attache Nasser Mustafa, Torijano was deployed to Kuwait by Zontar Manpower Services Inc. as domestic worker in September 2006 but was later on transferred to work in a dress shop located in Farwaniya.

While her residence visa was still for renewal by her employer, he said, she was caught by a Kuwaiti policeman in September 2012.

Mustafa said instead of bringing her to the police station, she was driven to a dark dessert in South Surra where she was raped inside the police patrol car and was stabbed on the neck and back.

Torijano managed to crawl by the roadside where she was found by a passing car and was brought to Mubarak Hospital, he said.

Following two years of court trial, the policeman was sentenced to death in June 2014 by the Court of First Instance. The sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment by the Court of Appeals upon the appeal of the policeman's legal counsel.

Torijano was awarded civil damages amounting to P3 million through the representative of the Philippine Embassy and Kuwaiti human rights lawyer Sheika Fawzia Salem Al-Sabah. 

DoLE said the civil indemnification was awarded last week.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III lauded the efforts of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offce and the Philippine embassy in Kuwait for successfully winning the case for Torijano and bringing her home.

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