I pursued and practiced law in Saudi Arabia to help the Filipino Muslims there. The cases I handled ranged from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and labor disputes. Handling these cases bring me great joy because I can’t bear seeing my fellow Filipinos suffer with no one defending them.
There’s this one case I’ll never forget. It involved a woman who wasn’t allowed to return home and was beaten multiple times by her employer. She tried reporting the matter to the police, but they just harassed her instead of helping her. The experience traumatized her so much that she would have anxiety attacks whenever she went to a certain part of town. So, when she brought her case to court, she was determined to win. Her employer tried to bribe her in dropping the case, but I told to her to resist because we’ll win in the end. And we did. And she was finally able to go home.
Winning cases like this is extremely rewarding for me, no matter how hard. I only want every Filipino Muslim to be treated well and receive what they’re due.
