6/8/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly 669 Phil. 448 SECOND DIVISION [ G.R. No. 181919, July 20, 2011 ] JONES INTERNATIONAL MANPOWER SERVICES, INC., REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT, EDWARD G. CUE, PETITIONER, VS. BELLA AGCAOILI-BARIT, RESPONDENT. DECISION BRION, J.: We pass upon the present petition for review on certiorari [1] seeking the reversal of the January 23, 2008 Decision [2] and the February 27, 2008 Resolution [3] of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 101069. [4] The Antecedents Summarized below are the relevant facts on record. On November 21, 2003, respondent Bella Agcaoili-Barit filed a complaint [5] for nonpayment of salaries and refund of transportation fare against the petitioner Jones International Manpower Services, Inc. (agency), owned and managed by Edward G. Cue. Barit alleged that she entered into a two-year employment contract (July 23, 1999 to July 23, 2001) with the agency, for its foreign principal in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohamad Hameed Al-Naimi (Hameed), as a domestic helper with a salary of US$200.00 a month. She did her job diligently and with dedication, but was paid only US$100.00 a month and, starting January 2001, was not paid any salary at all. She extended her employment for another 10 months upon Hameed's request as her replacement had not yet been deployed by the agency. Hameed refused to pay her salaries even during the extension. Fed up with her situation, she left Hameed on May 29, 2002 and had a live-in relationship with another Filipino overseas worker, Thomas Ambrosio, allegedly her boyfriend. As the law of Saudi Arabia prohibits such a relationship, she was arrested and imprisoned for more than a year. She claimed that she embraced the Islam religion and was exonerated of the charges against her. She was released from prison on October 14, 2003 and immediately left for home, arriving in the Philippines on October 15, 2003. She demanded payment of her salaries for one year and four months, payment of wage differentials from July 1999 to December 2000, and the refund of her airfare to the Philippines. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/32168 1/9

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