|
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Domestic helper jailed in Beirut on theft charge
* Not true, Nancy Tantiado says in letter to friend, a copy of which she asked be sent to her parents in Bacolod
* Nancy Tantiado, who aborted her three-year contract as domestic helper in Beirut, was about to board plane for Philippines when Lebanese guards arrested her on suspicion that she stole gold and other valuable stuff from her employer
AT 29 and single, Nancy Tantiado is a woman of dreams.
She wants to earn much to pay for the medication of her myoma-stricken mother. She wants to have her own house and lot. She wants to help her brother Leo. She wants to help send her niece to school.
For the past three years, Nancy, a secretarial graduate of the Binalbagan Catholic College, had worked as singer-entertainer in Japan.
From her earnings in Japan, she bought a house and lot at Eufemia Subdivision in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City.
When her contract in Japan expired early this year and she found her body no longer that attractive to Japanese guests, she decided to take up a caregiving course for three months in Bacolod.
Last August, she applied as a domestic helper in Lebanon.
Through Melbin International Placement Agency located at the Plaza Mart Mall in Bacolod City, she got hired in Beirut. Her contract was to last for three years.
But a month after, Nancy complained of maltreatment by her Lebanese employer.
She sought the help of fellow Filipinas in Lebanon and was referred to another employer.
Yet, Nancy wasn't happy of her situation in Lebanon.
She decided she has had enough of life in Lebanon.
On Sept. 20, as she was about to board a plane bound for the Philippines, Nancy was arrested by the airport guards in Beirut.
Her bags, the guards told her, contained assorted gold jewelry and other valuables items.
She denied having these items but still she was sent to Baabda Women's Prison.
Inside the detention cell, the use of cellphones was prohibited.
It was only this month when she got the chance to write her best friend, Joy Dager, about her situation. The undated letter was hand-written on ruled paper.
She asked Dager to mail a copy of this letter to her parents in Bacolod address. On Oct. 14, her parents, Leonardo and Jocelyn Tantiado, received the letter.
In her letter, Nancy asked Joy to call President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Ambassador Roy Señeres, the Office of the Philippine Embassy and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) and a certain Sister Amelia.
Nancy also jotted down the contact numbers of these persons and offices in the hope they could help her get out of prison as soon as possible.
She said she was framed by her former Lebanese employer in cohorts with Lara Services and Milben International Placement Agency. She said they didn't want her to return home with an unfinished contract.
At the Beirut airport upon her arrest, she was slapped on the head, buttocks and shoulder, she said.
She was also kicked and threatened to be killed if she didn't admit to stealing the jewelry and other valuable items.
Nancy, who loves to eat eggs and noodles, has scoliosis, her mother said.
To ease the pain, Nancy would sing in her cell.
Her immediate wish, however, is to have her most beautiful picture sent immediately to Lebanon. With her in that picture is her best friend Clarice.
She said she missed everybody especially her parents but there's nothing she can except wait for the sentence on her.
Nancy is the child between Jessie Mae and Leo.
Her mother Jocelyn said she asked the help of Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr.
"My only wish for Iggy is to help my daughter get out of prison. I want to see her alive and full," Jocelyn said.
"I am worried about her. I always imagine how she looks now with the punches and kicks she got from the Lebanese policemen. I don't know if I could stay long in this world if my daughter would be in prison for long," Jocelyn told Sun.Star.
"Please help me, Sir Iggy. Please help my daughter to be back with us. I can't live without her. I can't bear the pain of thinking of her day and night," she appealed.
Dolly Yasa, Arroyo's person in charge of the Bacolod liaison office, told Sun.Star Bacolod in a phone interview that the case is now being followed up by Owwa administrator Marianito Roque. (EASD)
(October 26, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
