An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has called for help from the relevant government agencies as well as the Philippine consulate general, saying she needed to come home.

On DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show Usapang OFW, Maricar Mendez said she wanted to return home because she was feeling unsafe around her employer. This followed an incident where she accidentally damaged an ironing board with a defective flat iron, which led to a heated argument between them.

“We had an argument because last Saturday he saw the burned ironing board. But it had been two weeks since something went wrong with the iron and I had informed him. So I was surprised when last Saturday he suddenly got angry about the condition of the ironing board,” she said in Filipino.

Mendez said her employer told her the cost of the ironing board would be deducted from her salary.

She said she hadn’t eaten anything since the altercation and her employer has not said anything to her since.

“My employer isn’t giving me food because I’m not working now. I haven’t worked for three days. I already told my employer that I’m going home,” she said.

The DAILY TRIBUNE has reached out to the Department of Migrant Workers and forwarded the case of Mendez to the One Repatriation Command Center (ORCC).

Meanwhile, the TRIBUNE also reached out to the Philippine consulate general in Jeddah and Mendez’s recruitment agency.