SINGAPOREAN was stranded in the Philippines for nearly a year, where he had gone to live with a maid and become so poor that he could not afford a ticket home, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.
Joey Kurian, 56, flew back only early last month with the help of five friends, to whom he managed to send a distress e-mail when he came upon an Internet cafe, reported the Chinese evening daily.
According to Mr Kurian, the maid named Jocelyn had returned to Singapore to work as a domestic helper in September last year, leaving him to live with her family in a rural part of the Philippines.
His romance with Ms Jocelyn, now 36, initially looked promising after they met in a church in January 2013, the former freelance copywriter told Wanbao.
In December 2014, they moved to the Philippines as he could not bear seeing her work so hard as a maid.
They first lived in a city, depending mainly on what he had taken out from his CPF account, his meagre savings and the rent he collected from his three-room flat.
But the money soon ran out and they had to move to her parents’ home.
Mr Kurian, whose two previous marriages had failed, claimed that Ms Jocelyn had got into a relationship with a Westerner after returning to Singapore and the two were about to wed.
But the maid told Wanbao that she had no marriage plans and that she had broken off with Mr Kurian when she left again for Singapore.
“He liked to drink and smoke and often taunted me before my family,” said Ms Jocelyn of her former lover.
“He also liked to splurge, eating often in restaurants. I had to tag along,” she added.
She admitted that Mr Kurian did buy her many gifts before their relationship turned sour but said all these had been sold because of the shortage of money.
She also claimed that she remitted part of her pay to him in the first four months she was back in Singapore.
“How could he be so ungracious as to slander me and shame me?” she lamented.
Two friends of Mr Kurian confirmed that they had raised money for his air ticket and had sought assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Kurian, now living alone, told Wanbao that he is now reduced to destitution and is living hand-to-mouth.
Claiming that he now weighs less than 50kg, he slammed Ms Jocelyn for being heartless.
“I gave my heart to her.
“How could she treat me so?” he said bitterly.
myp@sph.com.sg
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