The two, Jill and Anita (not their real names), who hail from Luzon, had decided to come to Malaysia on May 10 after they were told of job openings as clerks with a monthly salary of RM2,000.
Both are degree holders and had decent jobs back home but the lure of making more than the average citizen in the Philippines brought them to Malaysia.
It has been several months since they started working but they have yet to be paid their promised salaries. To add insult to injury, Jill and Anita said they have also had to work as a waitress and receptionist, on top of their clerical duties.
Penniless and without their passports, all they are wishing for is to be able to get their salaries, and to go home for Christmas.
“We still hope we can go back to the Philippines for Christmas. I miss my mother. I want to celebrate Christmas with my family.
“I miss the food at home. I miss decorating the Christmas tree. I want to be reunited with my family and celebrate my mother’s birthday too,” Jill said, adding that her mother was not aware of her situation.
In relating their experiences, Jill, who was previously a college instructor teaching physical education and personal development, said in their jobs as clerks in Puncak Alam, they would work from 9am to 6pm.
“That was for almost two and a half months. After that, we were taken to Putrajaya, where we had to do waitressing and become receptionists.
“The hours were long – from 10am to 10pm. And we had no rest days,” she told reporters at the Tenaganita office here yesterday.
Food was scarce for them as well, she said, adding that they would sometimes only eat twice a day, as they had no money.
“There was a time where we just shared a packet of cereal,” she said, of their predicament.
Her cousin, Anita, who was a teacher back home, said they decided to seek help after spending three weeks in Johor Bahru, where nothing happened even after they were told they had to go there for immigration purposes.
“So I contacted my aunt in Hong Kong, and she said my problem was not normal, for us to be working from 10am to 10pm, and referred us to Tenaganita.
“By right we should be working only eight hours, but we worked extra hours. And we do not have extra days off.
“So far, not a single cent (has been paid). I have been living on my savings. Even our personal belongings were left in the house,” she said.
A Tenaganita coordinator subsequently came and picked them up from Johor Bahru, and ever since then, both have been staying at the group’s shelter.
Anita said that the teacher who referred her to the job did not receive any commission from doing so, and was going through the same predicament in Malaysia as well.
“We want to go back fast to the Philippines before Christmas, because the celebration is the most important. We will have our family reunion.
“I miss my mother and my father,” she said.