Demafelis’ kin may be asked to testify in Kuwait
The Philippine government is ready to bring a family member of slain Filipino domestic helper Joanna Demafelis to Kuwait to testify in the murder trial of her employers.
“The parents or any member of her family may be asked to testify to establish the extent of the liability of the two principal suspects, then we will help them in flying to Kuwait,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in an interview yesterday.
The body of Demafelis was found stuffed inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait. She will be buried on Saturday in her hometown in Iloilo.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier announced that the female employer of Demafelis, identified as Mona Hassoun, was arrested in Lebanon. The male employer, Nader Essam Assaf, was caught in Syria.
Bello said the Kuwaiti government will take the lead in the filing of criminal charges against Demafelis’ employers because Philippine officials are not fully aware of the judicial system of Kuwait.
“The best that we could do is to monitor the progress of the case and if the civil liability will be considered, we will help out in taking her parents to Kuwait to testify,” he said.
“We will just wait for further development. What is important is that they were arrested,” he added.
The Philippine government is also running after the recruiters of Demafelis. All the persons mentioned as recruiters will be invited for questioning by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Bello said there are different versions on how Demafelis was recruited to work in Kuwait and there were also several names mentioned as her recruiters.
“That is the reason why we have to look for the actual recruiter, a certain Agnes Tubales, who is also from Iloilo so we could get the history of deployment and service of Joanna,” he added.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Welfare of Migrants and Itinerant People also supports the government’s move to investigate the recruiters of Demafelis.
“The role of these recruitment agencies is not just to send our OFWs abroad but it is their responsibility that our OFWs are justly, very humanely treated and contracts and salaries are strictly followed, fairly given and duly respected,” Bataan Bishop Ruperto Cruz Santos, chair of CBCP episcopal commission on migrants.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Association of Agencies Accredited to Kuwait (PHILAAK) extended P200,000 assistance to the family of Demafelis.
PHILAAK members gave assurance that they will cooperate in the Senate investigation into the death of Demafelis.
The group also supported the move of the Department of Labor and Employement to forge with Kuwait an agreement providing additional protection to overseas Filipino workers. DOLE hopes that the Philippine and Kuwait governments would be able to forge the agreement this month.