Rape victim’s medical bill hits SR250,000

naveen mishra · Sep 26, 2014

A male Filipino worker, who claimed he was gang-raped and left for dead in the desert on May 16 this year by five unidentified males, has launched a desperate appeal for help to pay his mounting medical bills, which now stand at SR250,000.
The Overseas Foreign Worker (OFW), who previously had wanted to remain anonymous, said he has now decided to reveal his identity out of desperation. He said no one had come forward to help him.
He posted a message on his Facebook account on Sept. 22 under the name McCormick Alboroto Rabina appealing “to fellow OFWs all over the world, especially our government or someone else out there, to save me.”
He addressed his call to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Department of Foreign Affairs. The embassy’s labor attaché has not yet responded to an Arab News request for comment.
Rabina, 31, who spoke to Arab News over the phone from his hospital bed on Wednesday, could not provide any updates about his case because he claims the Philippine Embassy has not given him any information. “Actually, I’m forced to come out in the open because I cannot wait for them anymore. My bills are mounting on a daily basis,” he said.
He told Arab News that he was attacked by five young men, not three as reported, while heading home. He said he was traveling along King Abdullah Road and not in Batha as reported previously. He said his medical insurance company refuses to pay his bill claiming that he had failed to notify it about his case.
Rabina, who is a computer science graduate from Mindanao, said he now wants to go home as soon as possible. He said 40,000 people on Facebook have shared his post. He said he has already recovered from the shock of the assault and is now only worried about paying for his treatment.
“Actually I am not under any medication. I’m being held here, it’s like hospital arrest, because I cannot pay the bill.” He said he has been in the hospital for nearly six months.
A fellow OFW, Maricel Erasga Tunacao based in Al-Qaseem, has also been trying to drum up support for him. “I don’t know him but being an OFW I am really touched by his plight which happened months ago, and with nobody knowing what happened to the perpetrators. They are supposed to pay the bill not the victim.” She also appealed to the embassy to help him.

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