Ate Au, makakauwi na ang classmate mo! ____________ OFW with Dhs86,000 Loan Free to Go Home After 14 years College classmates of an almost paralyzed OFW named Recto “Rey” Esmeralda was planning to have a grand reunion when they learned about his plight who was staying illegally in the United Arab Emirates for 14 years after helping a friend by borrowing money from the bank under his name. Au Ferrera, Rey’s classmate and friend who is based in Canada, described Rey as one of the nicest person she knew so they were surprised what happened to him when they search for him online. Sometime in 1998, Recto’s friend came to him to ask for help for his ailing mother. This friend said that he’s going to pay Dhs2,200 installment a month for the Dhs86,000. After getting the money, the friend disappeared without paying a single cent. He later learned that his friend went to Bahrain from Dubai and later died in a car crash. In 1999, Esmeralda lost his job and his visa expired in 2000. He was doing odd jobs after and was also jailed for 4 months for not paying his bank loan. He has been stuck in Dubai ever since. His situation worsened when he suffered stroke and aneurism and had a brain surgery in 2008. Rey’s classmates and employees of the hotel where he worked raised Dhs 14,000 and the rest of Dhs 20,000 that was asked by the bank was paid by St. Mary’s church (the church that led the fundraising for him). A volunteer from the church was very thankful to all the people who helped bring Esmeralda home especially to senior UAE judged who moved the case to a compassionate cases section of the court where he said “I checked it just two days ago and the case is finally over. I am happy to see this man go home.” Bank Mashreq, the bank where he borrowed money, waived most of the loan, and the compound interest and penalties after the Dubai courts urged them to negotiate. Finally, on Monday, he is going home to see his wife in the Philippines after 14 years of being an illegal, Dhs85,000 in debt, with physical disabilities and speech problems.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 11:46:40 +0000
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