The Overseas Filipino Worker from Bacolod City, who broke her leg while escaping from her employer's residence in Lebanon, does not need an operation, Executive Assistant to the City Mayor of Bacolod City, Alex Coloso, said yesterday.

Coloso said Miramar Flores broke her right leg because her employer would not allow her to go home when the Lebanese-Israeli war broke out. Flores arrived in Manila Sunday, on a wheelchair and a plaster cast on her leg, he added.

After examination at a hospital, however, the doctors said she does not need an operation, Coloso said.

Flores, 25, of Brgy. Bata, Bacolod City said she escaped on August 1 by jumping from the first floor of her employer's condominium. She said her employers would not allow her to go home since they want her to finish her two-year contract. She started working for them as a domestic helper in November 2005, she added. After her escape, Flores said she rode on a bus and later took a taxi to the Philippine Embassy. She had not been paid her salaries for July and August, she said.

She said her male employer is a nutritionist at the American University in Lebanon, while his wife is employed as a teacher in the same school.

Flores said she is presently staying at the Overseas Workers Welfare Organization office and is scheduled for another check up at the Philippine Orthopedic Center in Manila on Sept. 14. She said she has no plans of going back to Lebanon but still intends to work abroad.

Meanwhile, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the city is helping some of the OFW's from Lebanon find employment through the Public Employment and Services Office and even in local stores for those who are in desperate need. He said he has assigned Coloso to attend to the OFW's concerns.*CGS

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