THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) awaits the formal complaint from the families of 31 Negrense women who were promised jobs as domestic helpers in Kuwait but are allegedly being offered for sale to foreign employers.
Clara Vicente, officer-in-charge of DFA-Bacolod Consular Office, said Monday that they encourage the nearest kin of the women to come to their office and file a formal complaint so that they can act appropriately on the problem.
"We would like to know who are involved," Vicente said.
A husband of a recruit from Isabela, Negros Occidental said over Aksyon Radyo Bacolod that his wife went to Kuwait together with the 30 other women last June 15.
They were promised an immediate job as domestic helpers, but since their arrival, they have been staying in an accommodation center and made to wait for employers, he said.
His wife even told him that she was to be bought on Monday and that she didn't know what would happen to her and who will be her employer.
She also told him that they were banned from using their mobile phones, but she was able to keep her phone and has been secretly sending texts to him.
The husband refused to reveal yet the name of the recruitment agency in Bacolod City.
If the situation of his wife and 30 other Negrense women will not be addressed by the agency, then he will reveal the identity of the recruiter, he said.
The husband said all the documents, including the identification cards of his wife were tampered by the recruitment agency, just to send her to Kuwait for immediate employment. (TDE)