Demafelis recruiter, training officer surrender

A training officer and an alleged recruiter of Joanna Demafelis have surfaced to defend themselves from criticisms and deny any role in the domestic helper’s murder in Kuwait.

Agnes Tuballes, in her 30s, went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) office at Camp Crame at around 3:20 p.m. last Tuesday after her name was mentioned as Demafelis’ recruiter.

On the other hand, Marrisa Asanji Mohamed, a training officer of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc., arrived shortly before noon yesterday at the National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region Office to explain her job and her supposed link to Demafelis’ case. Mt. Carmel Global is the recruitment agency that processed the papers of Demafelis.

Tuballes said she wanted to clear her name after Demafelis’ family pointed to her as the recruiter of Demafelis.

A visibly emotional Tuballes criticized the “irresponsible” report of GMA Network Inc. pointing to her as Demafelis’ recruiter.

“I want to clear the irresponsible news of GMA that I’m an illegal recruiter,” Tuballes said at a press briefing. “It now appears that I’m a suspect.”

She said she is being bullied in social media after her photograph was shown by the television network to the public. She added that even her two children are also now victims of bullying at school.

Accompanied by relatives, Tuballes narrated to authorities how she assisted Demafelis,who is her distant relative and fellow resident of Sara, Iloilo.

She recalled that in December 2013, her sister told her that Demafelis wanted to work as a domestic helper abroad.

During that time, her contact in Kuwait, a Filipina married to a Kuwaiti she identified as Ara Midtimbang, was in need of Filipinos to work as domestic helpers.

Tuballes then referred Demafelis to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Global E- Human Resources.

“I helped her but I did not expect that this would end up this way,” said Tuballes.

She said she received P13,000 as a commission for referring Demafelis to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, which is way above than the P5,000 she would usually receive.

She said she could not explain why she netted a bigger fee in her referral of the slain domestic helper.

“I recommended her there so she was able to go abroad legally,” she said.

Tuballes admitted, however, that she was not able to finish the processing of Demafelis’ travel papers when she left to work in Hong Kong.

She then referred Demafelis to Mariz Asnaji who, she claimed, worked as a secretary at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Asnaji is now under the NBI custody.

Tuballes apologized to Demafelis’ family, adding that she planned to visit them in Iloilo.

CIDG chief Director Roel Obusan, for his part, said they are still not considering Tuballes as a suspect in the case.

“We are presenting her not as a suspect or a witness. She just wanted her side to be heard,” Obusan said in the same news briefing.

However, Obusan said it seems the management of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel tolerated Tuballes’ activity of referring applicants in exchange for a commission despite her not being an employee of the agency.

“There appears to be a deception in the case of Demafelis and this is where we would focus our investigation,” he said.

Obusan said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration revoked Our Lady of Mt. Carmel’s license in 2016.

Obusan said they have no legal basis to detain Tuballes. However, they would provide protection to her after Tuballes claimed she has been receiving threats.

On the other hand, Mohamed was just one among the many persons that the NBI wanted to invite to shed light on the Demafelis case, according to NBI-NCR director Cesar Bacani.

Mohamed said she met Demafelis while the latter was processing her papers at their agency in May 2014.

“At that time she was accompanied by Agnes (Tuballes) who referred her to our agency. In turn, the agency referred her to the Fadilah Farz Kaued Al Khodor Recruitment Office, which was based in Kuwait,” she said.

She said she never heard from her again because her agency was suspended in August of that year and subsequently ordered closed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Contrary to previous reports that Demafelis only secured a one-year contract, Mohamed said the Filipina finished her two-year contract and never returned home.