OFW in Kuwait tortured, burned with cigarettes by employer

Magsayo

AN ALMOST incomprehensible Bretchielyn Magsayo faced the camera to relay her story of abuse in the brutal hands of her employer in Kuwait, and her desperate pleas to be rescued.

In a harrowing Facebook video by a certain A. Ramos uploaded via netizen Anthony Enriquez on March 10, Saturday, Magsayo showed the purple bruises on her arms and thighs to the camera, as well as the cigarette burns she sustained on her shoulders and wrists.

“Pinaso yan nila,” she said in tears. “Gawa nila yan. Sana matulungan niyo ako.”(They made these burns. They did these. I hope you can help me.)

In the video, she points to her right arm with a huge deep purple bruise. She narrated, “Yung dito ko po, hinampas po yan ng ano, ng pangluto. Tulungan ninyo ako, i-rescue niyo ako agad agad gusto ko na umuwi ng Pilipinas. Tulungan niyo ho ako, humihingi ako ng tulong.”
(This was hit by a cooking implement. Please help me, please rescue me as soon as you can, I want to go back home to the Philippines. Will you please help me? I am asking for your help.)

Aside from the huge bruise on her right arm, another big purplish and yellowish bruise is above it. Cigarette burns can also be seen below the huge bruises, still on that arm alone.

Magsayo works as a Filipino maid for her employer in the address Zunup Sura Zhajra, Block 5, Street 514, House 24. It was revealed that she is usually beaten black and blue by her employer.

In another video uploaded by Enriquez, Magsayo is seen hiding inside the bathroom as a companion told her to ask for help while being recorded on camera.

As her videos and pictures went viral on social media, it didn’t take long for the authorities to rescue Magsayo.

Arnell Arevalo Ignacio, who was appointed Deputy Executive Director V of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration by President Rodrigo Duterte just this January, shared Enriquez’s post on his own Facebook on March 11, alerting people that Magsayo had been rescued.