OFW jailed for sitting on Koran Delmar Cariño Inquirer
July 28, 2006
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - A farmer's daughter from Kibungan town who went to work as a maid in the United Arab Emirates in April has been jailed for accidentally sitting on the Koran.
Provincial officials said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has learned that a Shariah court sentenced Serafina Toyan, 26, to a one-month’s jail term on July 18 and also ordered her deported after serving her sentence.
But in a letter faxed to the provincial capitol here, Toyan said she did not notice the Koran when she sat on a bed to rest, because the Muslim holy book had been covered by a blanket.
She said this angered her employer, Jumaa Jamil Bakket Junaibi, who immediately took her to a police station for investigation.
In her letter, Toyan said she was also wrongly accused of eating a chocolate bar kept in her employer's refrigerator.
The DFA said Philippine Embassy representatives in Abu Dhabi were able to locate and talk to Toyan in the Al Rahba jail on July 17.
Esteban Conejos Jr., DFA undersecretary for migrant worker affairs, wrote Benguet Vice Governor Crescencio Pacalso recently, saying Toyan was confined at the Al Rahba jail during the day but moved to the Al Wathba central prison at night.
Dave Molitas, a reporter of a radio station in Baguio City and a town mate of the Toyans, said Toyan's father, Calixto, has been praying for his daughter's immediate repatriation.
"All I want is for her to come home," Molitas quoted Calixto as saying.
No one knew of Toyan's misfortunes until her agent, who was in Abu Dhabi, faxed Toyan's June 11 letter to Pacalso, who immediately wrote the DFA for assistance.
Toyan arrived in Abu Dhabi in April. Her father sold their only carabao to pay for her placement fee.
Badejim Abdullah, an Islamic scholar based in Baguio City, said sitting on the Koran is considered blasphemous and punishable if done intentionally to desecrate Islam.
