A Filipina who was earlier reported missing by his brother-in-law was found in jail on charges that she stole from her employer, GMANews.TV said Thursday. It said Consul General Ezzedin Tago has instructed his staff to look for the woman, Amelia Cortez Lozano, after the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah was informed that she was missing. Earlier reports said Lozano could have sought refuge at the shelter for distressed Filipino workers at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah after she ran away from her employer. Interest on Lozano's whereabouts was sparked by an e-mail to media in Manila by his brother-in-law Sonny Espada, who works in Singapore, that she had ran away from her employer. Espada said Lozano signed a contract in the Philippines that she would be working as a personal assistant in Jeddah, only to find out that she would have to work as a nanny or yaya. Espada said Lozano was physically harmed by her employer and was told that she would not be paid for her services, prompting her to escape. Espada said she had planned to take refuge at the halfway home run by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah. But on Feb. 9, Espada said, he learned from Lozano herself that she was being jailed in Jeddah because her employer filed a complaint with the police that she stole SR30,000 (about P387,000) from the family. Riyadh-based OFW advocate Rashid Fabricante, sought the assistance of the Philippine consulate general to help the jailed Filipina, GMANews.TV said. It said Tago told Fabricante by email that he recalled having received a call from the diplomatic police in Jeddah about a complaint by the employer against the woman. Later, GMANews.TV said Tago was able to talk to the employer who asked if her two maids - Lozano and another one named Olivia - had sought refuge at the half-way home. “I talked to her and jotted down the names, and heard her complaint. If I recall correctly, she alleged that Amelia was talking to a man on the cell phone a lot, and she caught Amelia with a man at the back door of the house,” GMANews.TV quoted Tago as saying. Tago checked with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) at the consulate's compound but was told that the two Filipinas had not taken shelter at the half-way home. POLO officials told Tago the two sought help but decided not to stay at the shelter. Lozano was said to be with her male cousin and left without leaving a contact number. Two weeks after he told the employer that the women were not at the shelter, Tago said he received a note from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting to bring the two household workers to the police if they were at the shelter. Later, Tago said he checked again after receiving another email from Fabricante and learned from POLO that Lozano was arrested during a raid on an apartment rented by some Filipinos. He said he had referred the case to the consulate's Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Section.
