By MALU CADELINA MANAR
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Relatives of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from Maguindanao expressed fear over the life of their kin after a Filipina nurse took to Facebook to post pictures of her in seeming coma at a hospital in Kuwait.
In the post, the Filipina nurse reportedly explained she only did so to alert the relatives of the OFW about her situation.
The OFW was later identified as Norisa Manambit, 36, from Barangay Kauran in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
A niece of Manambit, Lady Mae Besa, in an interview over Catholic-ran dxND here, said her aunt has been missing since January this year, adding they last communicated with her late last year.
According to Besa, her aunt left the country in 2017 to work as a domestic helper in Daman in Saudi Arabia.
Seeing her in a coma in a Kuwaiti hospital was a surprise to the family she said.
She asked, “How can that be? We were so sure she went to Daman, Saudi Arabia. How did she get to Kuwait?”
Besa was told that sometime in January this year, Manambit had a heated altercation with her employer after she was caught using a mobile phone.
The altercation allegedly resulted to a fight that led her employer to call for police and had her locked inside a prison cell in Daman.
“But when friends visited my aunt in Daman prison, they did not find her there,” said Besa.
Besa said they have sought help from Manambit’s agency in the Philippines.
Allegedly, an agency staff told them not to report the incident to any media outlet or to the Philippine government while they are still following up on the case.
“But weeks had passed and we were not yet given information that we need to appease us. The agency has promised to update us of my aunt’s case. But until now, they would only give us false promises,” Besa stressed.
Manambit has worked twice in Saudi Arabia as a house help prior to her disappearance in January.
Besa expressed their concern that their aunt might suffer the same fate as Joanna Demafiles, the OFW found dead inside a freezer in Kuwait.
“We are praying she’s OK. But we’re in limbo that’s why we’re so worried,” she said.