Guadalupe Gonzales, 59, has been comatose since she was rushed to CHC last Feb. 17.
She remains hooked to a ventilator, and her prognosis, according to the attending physicians, depends upon the improvement of her brain and lung functions.
Gonzales is one of the 76 garment workers who filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Tan Holdings’ L&T for discrimination in 2004.
They said their employer constantly subjected them to age and race-related verbal harassment and was engaged in a pattern of terminating or refusing to renew employment contracts of pregnant female employees.
Gonzales’s former co-worker, Mila Sapiandante, told Variety that her friend, a single mother, wants to go home to see her three children in the Philippines.
She said she, Gonzales and the other former L&T workers have been surviving with the help of friends.
Last January, Gonzales asked a paralegal whether it’s better for her to go home or wait until June 1, when the federalization law takes effect.
She decided to stay. Like most guest workers, Gonzales is hoping that something “good” will happen when the federal government takes over local immigration.
Gonzales started losing weight after a test indicated that she had high blood sugar.
Sapiandante said Gonzales had no idea that she was also having problems with her lungs.
Sapiandante is asking members of the community who want to provide assistance to Gonzales to call 322-6452.
