“Friends come and go, like the waves of the ocean, but the true ones stay like an octopus on your face.” –Anonymous

Since “running away” from the Arab boss that brought her to the United States from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2001, Rosita ‘Rose’ Junatas, a domestic helper from Tarlac, has not seen her family.

“I hope to reunite with them soon,” she told me in an interview last week.

She hopes to return home to Ramos, Tarlac once the remaining documents to acquire permanent residency (a “green card”) arrive. The process is being facilitated by preacher Mariano C. Evangelista ,Jr. and his wife Armida of Falls Church, Virginia, who have “adopted” Junatas and allowed her to stay at their church.

Junatas lost her American husband, Michael Bradley, to lung cancer last month and has been living with the Evangelistas since his cremation. The two had been living in McLean, Virginia since 2001, but she began the process of acquiring a green card once Bradley was already hospitalized.

Meeting

Junatas and Bradley met through co-worker Elsie Ribao on April 13, 2001 – Good Friday. She eventually moved in with him that Labor Day, September 3, and the two married later that month, September 27.

Due to complications with her husband’s previous marriages, she was initially unable to complete processing on her green card. He had previously been married to Marilou, another Filipina, whom he divorced after five years; before her, he had been married to an American, with whom he has a 40-year-old son.

Junatas’ first husband, Leopoldo Gicete, died of asthma in 1982. Following his death, she worked for 18 years as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, while raising two kids. Her daughter Rosenda now has her own family and lives in Aklan, where she runs a fishing business; her son Leopoldo, Jr. is a seaman. They communicate regularly on Facebook messenger.

Decision

Her Saudi boss resented her decision to “run away” and live with Bradley. He had paid for her airfare from Saudi Arabia to the United States and expected Junatas to stay with his family.

“Sa galit ng amo ko sa ginawa namin, hindi niya ibinigay ang mga natira ko pang suweldo (My boss was so enraged that he didn’t give me my remaining salary),” Junatas recalled.

With her husband not able to make ends meet, she eventually did some housekeeping for his friends. However, Junatas said Filipina friends, who visited often, argued with Bradley when he would point out they had not washed their dishes and were leaving it all for his wife.

“I told them to ignore Mike and not to engage him in a quarrel because he was sickly, but they refused to listen,” she said.

Gossip

The same “friends” gossiped behind her back.

“[They] belittled me when I was down,” she said.

“When Mike was in the hospital, nobody cared for us,” Juantas added. “When Mike died, none of them visited us – one of them even told our friends ‘buti nga (good riddance).’”

She said, once he was gone, “[Friends] abandoned me and even cursed me for marrying a poor and sickly American citizen.” However, Juantas did not inherit any property from her husband, who was penniless before his death.

While under the custody of the Evangelistas, Junatas no longer entertains calls from friends, whom she described as,

[They] only open up a conversation and pretend they care only to get some information about my present situation, share it to others, and add insult to my injury.”

“I will just keep quiet and maintain my peace here [at the Christian Evangelical Ministry] and wait for my complete papers [for] the green card,” she added. “I know I am in good hands; no more friends, I don’t want to be hurt anymore.”/WDJ