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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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February 17, 2018
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Tears flow as slain Ilongga OFW returns in a casket
MANILA – The family of slain Ilongga domestic helper Joanna Daniela Demafelis turned emotional as her remains arrived yesterday morning from Kuwait.
A Western Visayas-based workers’ group, meanwhile, called the labor deployment ban imposed on Kuwait as palliative and won’t address the dangers that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) face.
The plane carrying Demafelis’ wooden casket touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 past 10 a.m. The remains will be brought to the Ilongga’s house in Sara, Iloilo today.
Among those who received Demafelis’ casket were her brother Jojit and sister Jessica who wailed uncontrollably. Labor and Foreign Affairs officials assisting her were at a loss for comforting words.
Demafelis’ body was recovered inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait last week.
Jessica broke into tears and embraced her sister’s casket as it was wheeled to the airport’s cargo bay.
Jojit wept quietly and was unable to speak. He later told reporters, “I hope my sister will be given justice.”
Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano of the Department of Foreign Affairs said the country should take a serious look at the abuses suffered by OFWs.
“’Yung kanyang death is very tragic but will also be a rallying point for all agencies to be more aggressive abroad,” Cayetano said. “President (Rodrigo) Duterte has ordered authorities to do everything to protect OFWs.”
Cayetano stood with the Demafelis siblings at the airport and said a prayer.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Panay said the labor deployment ban “is just a palliative step that will never address the issues of our fellow Filipino workers abroad.”
“Many will opt to hide and become illegal workers while some will look for jobs in other countries for there is no decent job waiting for them back in the Philippines,” said Roxanne Javellana, spokesperson of KMU Panay.
Jessica said her sister last contacted the family in May 2016. Demafelis informed them she wanted to extend her stay in Kuwait.
As of this writing, Kuwaiti authorities were still searching for Demafelis’ employers – a Lebanese national named Nader Essam Assaf who is wanted for cases related to falsified cheques and his Syrian wife.
Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said the Ilongga, who left for Kuwait in 2014, was beaten several times.
The Department of Labor and Employment on Monday ordered a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait.
Javallena warned it would “worsen the OFWs’ situation and will put them more vulnerable to abuses.”
Demafelis had several broken ribs, contusion and trauma in the pelvis and kidney area. She also suffered from internal bleeding due to the beatings, result of an autopsy showed.
KMU Panay, meanwhile, also slammed a recent statement by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Region 6 blaming OFWs as to why they suffer abuses and maltreatment.
“It is unjust and insensitive for a government agency like OWWA to blame our OFWs for not embracing the culture of employers, for not being able to overcome homesickness and for wearing off-shoulder and short garments as reasons to be abused or raped,” said Javellana.
“Filipinos go abroad because of landlessness, lack of jobs, labor contractualization and very low wages here in our country. These make them vulnerable to abuses, plus the absence of protection from the Philippine government,” said Javellana.
KMU Panay is holding the Philippine government accountable for Demafelis’ death “which is evidenced by its neglect to provide decent and adequate jobs to prevent Filipinos from going abroad.”
“It is by the provision of adequate jobs, by creating a policy for national industrialization and genuine land reform that our people will be free from exploitation and abuse overseas. We call on the government to have an anti-labor contractualization policy and implement a national minimum wage of P750 a day for private sector workers and P16,000 a month for government employees” said Javellana./PN
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