OFW Noraisa Manambit Found Safe; Returns Home Healthy

OFW Noraisa Manambit welcomed by DFA and OWWA at the airport

24 February 2018 — The viral Facebook post of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was allegedly found comatose in a hospital in Kuwait has recently been proven false following extensive investigations conducted by the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait and Riyadh.

Both embassy teams worked closely with the local authorities of Kuwait and Riyadh in searching for the whereabouts of Noraisa Manambit, an OFW employed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia but who was said to have been found comatose in Farwaniya Hospital in Kuwait. Officers from the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait combed both Farwaniya Hospital, which was mentioned in the Facebook post, as well as Amiri Hospital. However, the management and the nurses of both hospitals confirmed that they had no patient by that name.

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, on the other hand, conducted its own extensive investigation. The Embassy reported that OFW Manambit was in the custody of the Saudi Immigration in Dammam for normal and orderly repatriation with the assistance of Embassy personnel.

According to DFA records, OFW Manambit was first recruited to Saudi Arabia in 2014. She returned to Saudi in June 2017.

OFW Manambit was flown home on 23 Feburary 2018, from Dammam, Saudi Arabia and was met by a team from the DFA Office of Migrant Workers Affairs as well as other allied agencies. OFW Manambit arrived in excellent condition.

The DFA extended financial assistance to OFW Manambit and has committed to assisting her in various legal and documentary concerns. END