The Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration welcomed home 50 distressed overseas Filipino workers on Monday during its "Pamaskong Salubong para sa Bagong Bayani ng Bagong Pilipinas" at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.

Among the OFWs who arrived was Lonelyn Santos Magana, 38, of Bicol who worked for three years as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia.

She shared her traumatic experience of being locked up by her boss in their house.

"We were locked up. Most OFWs were locked up by their employers in their rooms, and we endured that. We were worse off than prisoners; we had to endure that because life is hard," Magana said.

Magana said they were exploited 24/7.

"We didn't have any days off for three whole years. Because of our frustration, we dared to speak up to our employers. We just made up excuses for the employers to let us go home to our country," she said.

Hosna Badron, 51, of Kumulurang, Zamboanga, who was a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia for 14 years, said her employer refused to return her passport. She was surprised to discover that a case had been filed against her.

"My employers were okay, but my problem was they wouldn't let me go back to my country. When I asked them for my passport, they said they lost it. When I was about to renew my passport, they would not allow me," she said.

"I sought help at the embassy and I stayed there for three months because, apparently, there was an immigration case against me that I was not aware of. They said I had a visa issue that was not resolved," Badron said.

She said she was not physically harmed or starved.

The Department of Migrant Workers and OWWA distributed P55,000 to each OFWs who arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and an additional P5,000 to the OFWs with children.

The Pamaskong Salubong is a yearly government program that serves as a gesture of gratitude for the invaluable contributions of OFWs to the nation.