Ex-labor attaché in Riyadh hit for not investigating rape complaint

A former Philippine labor official in Saudi Arabia is being investigated by the Senate Committee on Public Accountability in Manila over charges that he had not done enough to help a Filipino woman when his driver nearly raped her last year.
Arab News tried to contact the official, former Labor Attaché Adam A. Musa, in Manila for comment but he could not be reached. Musa headed both the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh and the Eastern Province until early this year.
Grace Victoria Sales, a 28-year-old from Isabela province, north of Manila, appeared before the Senate panel (informally known as Blue Ribbon committee) last Thursday. She told about her experience at the hands of Musa’s driver, Jojo Casicas.
She said Casicas had sexually harassed her on Aug. 21 last year inside Bahay Kalinga, a POLO-run shelter for Filipino women who have escaped from abusive employers. The POLO in Riyadh administers Bahay Kalinga.
Sales claimed that Casicas often went into their quarters when they were getting dressed. She said she left Bahay Kalinga after the incident and settled with the driver for SR 10,000 (roughly PHP 116,000) through Musa’s staff. The amount reportedly came from Musa as the amount is equal to Casicas’ salary for three months.
She added that her experience at the hands of Casicas was the second attempted rape on her. The first incident happened just two months after she arrived in Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic helper in Alkhobar , when her employer entered her room and allegedly tried to rape her. She said she was able to escape with the help of the POLO then under Musa.
Musa led the three-person team that fetched her in Alkhobar and was brought to the Bahay Kalinga in Riyadh.
However, she was not repatriated, she said, and she worked as janitress at the POLO for a salary of $ 300 (SR 1,125) a month, higher than what she received as a domestic helper.
Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Cynthia Villar said the settlement made on behalf of Casicas was unacceptable, even if Musa admitted to suspending his driver, who later resigned.
“You just can’t close your eyes and let your personnel settle a case so that you will not be removed from office. It leaves an impression that you’re whitewashing everything,” a report quoted Villar as saying.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz denied her department is promoting settlements to keep erring officials off the hook.
“We immediately conduct an investigation into any administrative or criminal complaint,” she said.