5/28/2020
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
not given immediate medical attention, her condition became critical such that in
February 2000 she had to be operated on due to water retention in her leg bones. She
was later diagnosed to be suffering from ostro-arthritis. Because of her condition,
Olarte requested Fahad to just allow her go home to the Philippines. But her pleas fell
on deaf ears. At that point, Fahad was already frequently maltreating her since she
could no longer accomplish all the household chores due to her illness.
Olarte finally saw an opportunity to escape from the abusive hands of her employer
when she was allowed to go to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 16, 2000 and there sought
refuge at the Philippine Embassy. Notwithstanding her worsening condition, she could
not be repatriated immediately because her passport was being withheld by Fahad and
had to stay for a while in the office of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
(OWWA). When at last she was able to return to the Philippines on August 21, 2000,
Olarte had to be brought home from the airport by an emergency ambulance.
Several months later, Olarte filed a Complaint[7] for illegal dismissal, damages,
attorney’s fees and refund of placement fees against her foreign employer Fahad and
Nahas/PETRA/Royal Dream.
Ruling of the Labor Arbiter
In her pleadings,[8] Olarte alleged that she went to the office of PETRA/ Royal Dream at
Room 401, Gochangco Building, T.M. Kalaw, Ermita, Manila to apply for work abroad as
a domestic helper. She was met and interviewed by Nahas, the manager and owner of
the said agencies, who instructed her to sign what appeared to be a contract of
employment for work as a domestic helper. Subsequently and upon completion of all
the necessary papers, she was deployed to Hail, Saudi Arabia in August 1999 and there
experienced her horrible ordeal. As the ones responsible for her deployment abroad,
Olarte sought that Nahas, PETRA and Royal Dream be held jointly and severally liable
with her foreign employer for all her claims.
In the Position Paper[9] she filed for PETRA, Nahas acknowledged that she is the
President/Manager of the said agency. Nevertheless, she denied having a hand in
Olarte’s deployment abroad. While she admitted that Olarte indeed went to PETRA’s
office as a walk-in applicant sometime in May 1999, the latter allegedly withdrew her
application on the pretext that she would just go home to the province. To support this,
Nahas purportedly attached to the said pleading the alleged withdrawal request of
Olarte as Annex “A.” However, the said Annex “A” turned out to be a filled-up bio-data
form of Olarte bearing the letterhead of Royal Dream,[10] the local agency which
according to Nahas was the one responsible for Olarte’s deployment.
In a Decision[11] dated March 20, 2002, the Labor Arbiter ruled that PETRA/ Royal
Dream/Nahas failed to discharge the burden of proving that Olarte’s termination and
repatriation were for just cause; and also rejected their claim against liability after
giving weight to the fact that Nahas admitted to have interviewed Olarte but failed to
substantiate the claim that the latter withdrew her application. The dispositive portion
of the said Decision reads:
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/56962
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