OFW suicides in Saudi, Lebanon under watch

The Philippine government is closely monitoring the conduct of autopsies on the remains of the two Filipino household workers who figured in alleged suicide incidents in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia last week.

Philippine Embassy officials in Beirut and Riyadh are currently coordinating the autopsy procedures with authorities of the two countries to rule out foul play in the deaths of the two Filipino workers, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Thursday night.

On June 11, a 35-year old Filipino household service worker from Cagayan province died after reportedly jumping from her employer’s sixth-floor apartment in the Lebanese capital, according to the Philippine Embassy in Beirut. It was learned that she came to work in Lebanon only last October.

The second case involved a 40-yearold mother of two from Agusan del Sur who allegedly hanged herself with an electric cord at her employer’s residence in Al Hasa, outside Riyadh.

In a report to the DFA, Ambassador Bernardita Catalla said they have already requested for an autopsy that will be conducted on Friday, June 22, by a court-appointed forensic doctor at the St. George Hospital.

Catalla said she got an assurance from the forensic doctor that a “very thorough investigation” will be conducted to determine if there is evidence to support the possibility that foul play was involved in the death of the OFW in the Lebanon incident.

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, on the other hand, said it is waiting for the results of both the probe and the autopsy of the household worker from Agusan del Sur.