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[av_heading tag=’h3′ padding=’10’ heading=’‘Frozen’ OFW dreamed of ‘sari-sari’ store ‘ color=” style=’blockquote modern-quote’ custom_font=” size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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February 13, 2018
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ILOILO City – Slain Ilongga domestic helper in Kuwait Joanna Daniela Demafelis of Sara, Iloilo wanted to open a sari-sari store for her mother.
“She did not want me to work in the field anymore under the scorching heat of the sun,” said her mother Eva, a farmhand.
Demafelis, too, wanted to rebuild their house that super typhoon “Yolanda” destroyed in 2013, according to the mother.
Then 26 years old, Deemafelis left the country for Kuwait on May 18, 2014 six months after “Yolanda” struck and worked with a couple in the oil-rich Gulf state – a Lebanese man with a Syrian wife.
Last week, however, Demafelis’ body was found stuffed in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait, over a year after her last contact with her family.
“I can’t accept what happened to my daughter. This is too painful,” said Eva.
Demafelis’ father Crisanto, 62, wanted her daughter’s killers prosecuted.
“Kun sin-o nagpatay, sabton nila. What we want is justice for my daughter,” said Crisanto.
Demafelis’ last contact with her family was in May 2016. She told them she wanted to extend her stay in Kuwait.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will release financial and livelihood assistance to the Demafelis family.
Director Wilfreda Misterio said the family is entitled to a death benefit worth P100,000, P20,000 for burial assistance and livelihood assistance.
“These will be released as soon as the cadaver arrives. There are no problems with the victim’s papers,” said Misterio.
The Kuwaiti police investigators were yet to determine the cause of Demafelis’ death.
Demafelis’ 20-year-old younger sister Joyce told Panay News her sibling’s death was devastating to the family.
Demafelis was the family breadwinner and was sending Joyce to college.
“A few days before OWWA informed us about what happened to her, I dreamed about my sister. She said she did not want to die yet. She promised to give our parents better lives,” said Joyce.
Yesterday morning, the Department of Labor and Employment issued Administrative Order No. 54 series of 2018 on the total ban of overseas Filipino deployment to Kuwait.
Its regional office in Western Visayas received a copy of the order around noon.
“In pursuit of national interest, and with the advent of the series of reports involving abuse and death of overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait, a total ban on deployment of all overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait pursuant to the directive of the President of the Philippines is hereby enforced,” read the order.
OWWA records showed a total of 41,500 of OFWs in Kuwait from Western Visayas and of these, 26,216 were domestic workers.
The Kuwaiti police have launched a manhunt on Demafelis’ employers.
Demafelis’ death had shaken President Rodrigo Duterte and condemned the brutality that Filipinos were being subjected to in Kuwait.
“We send to you a Filipino worker, hale and hearty, determined to work his heart out to give his family a decent and comfortable life in the Philippines. Do not give us back a battered worker or a mutilated corpse,” the President said in Davao City on Saturday.
Around 250,000 documented OFWs and some 50,000 undocumented Filipino workers are currently working in Kuwait, based on data from the Labor department./PN
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