Pinay forced to drink bleach in Saudi out of ICU: DFA

IN BETTER CONDITION. Consul General to Jeddah Edgar Badajos talks to Filipino nurses at the King Fahd Hospital in Jizan who said they will look after Mancilla until she has fully recovered. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mancilla is now in a better condition and out of the intensive care unit. (Photo courtesy of DFA)

MANILA — Agnes Mancilla, the Filipina allegedly forced to ingest bleach in Saudi Arabia, is now out of immediate danger and has been moved from the intensive care unit to a regular ward Tuesday night, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in an update Wednesday.

According to DFA communications head Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato, Filipino nurses at the King Fahd Hospital in Jizan, where Mancilla is confined, assured Consul General to Jeddah Edgar Badajos that they will look after Mancilla until she has fully recovered.

Cato said Mancilla expressed her appreciation to Badajos and other officials at the Consulate General in Jeddah for the assistance extended to her.

Badajos, who visited Mancilla on Tuesday, said the Filipina worker’s hands were full of abrasions resulting from her handling of chemical agents without using gloves.

Mancilla said her female employer forced her to drink household bleach for failing to properly make tea.

In an update coursed through the DFA-Office of Public Diplomacy, Badajos said preparations are being made to transfer Mancilla to a hospital in Jeddah where she can easily be provided with support by the Consulate General and her family when they arrive in Jeddah.

The Consulate General is meeting with authorities in Jizan, who are handling Mancilla’s case, to ensure that proper charges would be filed against her employer.

Meanwhile, the Consulate General had also reported securing the release of another Filipina household service worker from her employer in Jeddah.

The worker from Nueva Vizcaya claimed she was overworked, forced to clean houses of other members of her employer’s family all by herself, and was not paid on time.

The Consulate General negotiated with the employer on Tuesday for her release to the Consulate’s custody. DFA said she is now scheduled to fly back to the Philippines on Sunday, April 22.