Kuwaiti suspect in OFW’s death detained

The suspect in the gruesome death of 35-year-old Filipina household worker Jullebee Ranara had been arrested by the police in Kuwaiti, the Department of Migrant Workers said yesterday, citing local reports.

The suspect, the 17-year-old son of Ranara’s Kuwaiti employer, was caught within 24 hours following the discovery of the victim’s burnt body in a desert.

Local paper Arab Times reported that her body was discovered at Al-Salmi Road, with her skull bashed. She was reported to be pregnant.

DMW Secretary Susan Ople, in a radio interview, said Ranara had complained to her family about the abusive treatment from the suspect. He once threatened to kill her, she confided then.

Ople said legal action is being undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs against the suspect.

Ranara also worked as a household service worker in Bahrain for her family, including four young children, the DMW revealed.

Four children

“According to her mother, Jullebee went abroad again because she wanted to provide for her family and children. We’re saddened because if there’s more time, her situation could have been reported so that we could have pulled her out from her employer,” Ople said.

She added the family had requested privacy as they mourn Jullebee’s passing.

Before members of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, Ople earlier said that Ranara’s death is a call to provide more job opportunities for women.

“As of 2021 figures, the women participation in our labor force is around 39 percent, and it has always been that way. We see that there is a need to strengthen and propel the participation of women in the domestic labor force where they will be more protected and there will be clearer career paths for them,” she said.