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BY PRINCE GOLEZ and CAROLYN JANE ABELLO
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February 20, 2018
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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will fly to Sara, Iloilo later in the week to visit the wake of slain domestic helper Joanna Daniela Demafelis, Malacañang has confirmed.
The Duterte administration will extend assistance to the Demafelis family, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
“Death (and burial benefits), financial assistance to the family, and I’m sure the President will announce other contributions,” he told Panay News yesterday.
Demafelis was a resident of Sitio Cordero, Barangay Ferraris, Sara. She was found dead in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait on Feb. 9.
Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said the government will provide help to the Demafelis family’s livelihood and other needs reaching some P600 thousand.
He specifically mentioned the assistance for the education of Demafelis’ youngest sister who wanted to become a policewoman.
Joyce, 20, is a graduating Criminology student at the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Ajuy, Iloilo but dropped out last year when her sister suddenly stopped sending money.
Joyce’s education and the wish to rebuild their house destroyed by super typhoon “Yolanda” were among the reasons why Joanna decided to work in Kuwait, said Rosela Demafelis, an aunt.
Due to poverty, Joanna was only able to finish high school at Sara National High School. Only two of her siblings were able to enter college.
According to OWWA Program and Services Division officer-in-charge Conie Binondo, the Demafelis family will receive outright P300,000 as financial assistance; livelihood assistance worth P200,000; educational assistance for Joyce worth P50,000 and medical assistance for a sister’s child worth P50,000.
Demafelis maid was repeatedly beaten, autopsy showed, and may have been stuffed in the freezer for over a year already.
Demafelis’ death angered Duterte. He banned the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait and encouraged those working there to come home. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
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