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BY RUBY SILUBRICO
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February 18, 2018
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Slain OFW brought home to Sara
CABATUAN, Iloilo – Calls for justice and denial from a grieving family filled the Iloilo International Airport when the remains of Joanna Daniela Demafelis arrived early morning yesterday.
Demafelis, a 29-year-old native of Sara town, was found lifeless in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait where she was employed as a domestic worker.
Her death and widespread reports of abuse among overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait triggered the Philippines’ ban on the deployment of workers to the Gulf state.
Emotions ran high when the Demafelis family gathered around the remains contained in a white temporary casket that was unloaded from Philippine Airlines Flight PR 2139 at around 6 a.m.
“Justice for Joanna D. Demafelis” was printed on streamers and T-shirts worn by a crowd of around 200 that included friends, relatives and local officials as they cried and expressed anger.
“Ate, I know that you are alive, mag bangon ka, indi ka patay (Get up, you are not dead),” Demafiles’ youngest sister Joyce said as she wept along with her parents and siblings next to the casket.
“Tama kasakit batyagon (What happened to her was too painful for us),” saidDemafelis’ closest aunt, Josephine Demafelis-Tupas.
Tupas described her niece as a “quiet woman” who always looks after her family. She “used to stay at our house and happily hang out with her cousins,” the aunt said in Hiligaynon.
Demafelis’ remains were escorted by a convoy to a funeral parlor in Ajuy town before they were brought to their house in Barangay Ferraris, Sara for the wake.
According to the aunt, when Demafelis was already out of reach and unable to send home money, they felt that the domestic worker could be in trouble.
“And then later we learned that she has died,” the aunt said as she called on the suspects to turn themselves in.
Authorities were still trying to track Demafelis’ employers – a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife. The couple were allegedly responsible for the domestic workers’ death.
Demafelis was beaten to death before she was stuffed in the freezer.
She had several broken ribs and contusions and trauma to the pelvis and the kidney area, Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Rene Villa said, citing the autopsy result.
Villa said the autopsy further showed that the domestic worker has experienced repeated beating.
Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration chief Hans Leo Cacdac helped bring the remains to Iloilo along with Demafelis’ siblings who were working in Metro Manila.
Cacdac expressed his condolences and assured the parents of government aid, including funding for the burial and livelihood for the family.
He said they were also looking to assist the youngest sister Joyce in finishing her criminology degree.
“We have to bring the remains to their house in Sara and process her funeral,” Cacdac told a news conference. “We promise to help the family. We are sorry for what happened.”
He also said President Rodrigo Duterte will visit the Demafelis family and this will be scheduled soon.
Currently they were waiting for update on the whereabouts of Demafelis’ employers from the authorities, including the International Criminal Police Organization.
“We are waiting for updates on the investigation, and we are hoping that the Kuwaiti authorities will deliver justice,” said Cacdac.
Demafelis’ remains arrived in the Philippines from Kuwait on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1./PN
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