Her husband of three years who passed away in 2009 due to complications with diabetes left her with nothing.
Maratita first came to work as a housemaid in 1987 on Rota.
After a year, she returned home before working in Brunei’s Riverview Hotel as housekeeper and banquet waitress for five years.
In 1997, she traded Brunei for the CNMI to work for the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, hoping that the thriving tourism industry would continue to flourish.
But things didn’t work out that way.
Maratita later filed a labor complaint over unpaid wages and was allowed to move to Saipan where she found employment either as a housemaid or caregiver.
She said she opted to stay on Saipan because she had to support her two children after she and her husband separated.
In 2006, she met Ben Maratita, a widower she was taking care of at the Rota Guest House.
Ben’s two legs were amputated due to diabetes. The two soon got married and she became his full-time caregiver.
But in 2009, Ben passed away and failed to process his wife’s green card.
Maratita said she has an umbrella permit that allows her to stay in the CNMI until Nov. 27, 2011.
She said she went to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to seek assistance and was referred to the Micronesian Legal Services Corp.
MLSC took her case but told her she must raise $1,680 to pay for the processing of her green card application.
She has until Sept. 23, 2011 to come up with the payment so MLSC can help her process her application.
Now in her mid-50s, Maratita said she’s desperate for work to raise the application fee.
She said her two sons in the Philippines cannot help her because they too have their own financial troubles.
“I need a job to raise money for my green card application. I am willing to work as a housemaid or caregiver,” Maratita told the Variety in an interview yesterday.
She said potential employers can contact her at (671) 678-0825.
A volunteer at the Salvation Army, Maratita said other IRs whose husbands have died are desperately seeking jobs to survive and are also willing to work as cleaners or housemaids.
