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[av_heading heading=’‘STOP BLAMING OFWs’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
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February 19, 2018
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Interpol launches int’l manhunt for maid’s ‘killers’
ILOILO City – Labor groups decried the “victim blaming” of some government officials in the wake of Ilongga domestic helper Joanna Daniela Demafelis’ death in Kuwait.
“We should not blame our countrymen who are desperate in landing a job abroad. They are victims of mass poverty bred by a backward economy,” said Migrante – Panay and Guimaras coordinator Cynthia Deduro.
Migrante – Panay and Guimaras is an organization of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Western Visayas.
In a recent radio report, an official in the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region 6 blamed some OFWs for the abuses and maltreatment they received in the hands of their foreign employers, according to Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Panay.
The group, however, did not identify the official.
The Interpol, meanwhile, has launched a manhunt for the suspects in Demafelis’ death – her employers: a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife.
“We are just waiting and hoping that the Kuwaiti government would deliver justice to us,” said Hans Leo Cacdac, OWWA administrator.
Interpol is the world’s largest police organization with 192 member-countries. Its primary role is to assist law enforcement agencies around the world in combating all forms of transnational crime and terrorism.
Cacdac accompanied the remains of Demafelis back to her hometown of Sara, Iloilo on Feb. 17.
“It is unjust and insensitive for a government agency like OWWA to blame our OFWs for not embracing the culture of their foreign employers, for not being able to overcome homesickness and for wearing off-shoulder and short garments as reasons to be abused,” said Roxanne Javellana, spokesperson of KMU Panay.
Filipinos go abroad because of landlessness, lack of jobs, labor contractualization in the country and very low wages, she stressed.
“It is these conditions that make them vulnerable to abuses, and the absence of protection from the Philippine government makes their situation worse,” said Javellana.
The “horrible killing” of Demafelis could have been prevented had the government, thru the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and OWWA, was diligent in monitoring the situation of OFWs, stressed Deduro.
Demafelis was found dead in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait on Feb. 9. Autopsy showed she was repeatedly beaten.
“There will be criminal charges definitely under Kuwaiti law,” said Cacdac.
He, however, did not give details about the Interpol manhunt.
“I would think that part of the investigation will be undertaking leads and perhaps some of these leads might be confidential at this stage,” said Cacdac.
According to Deduro, Demafelis’ case was “only the tip of the ice berg.”
“Filipino overseas domestic helpers face enormous risks and problems in foreign countries such as rape, physically and verbally abuse, and deprivation of their salaries, sleep and food,” she said.
Government assistance to OFWs is “extremely disproportionate” to the remittances of migrant workers to sustain the Philippine economy, said Deduro.
The ban on OFW deployment to Kuwait is “palliative at best,” she added.
“The President is doing ‘ambulance chasing.’ More than reacting only when problems crop up, he should stop pursuing policies that deepen the backwardness of our economy and dependence on foreign countries for jobs,” said Deduro.
Javellana, meanwhile, said the ban could further worsen the situation of OFWs in Kuwait and make them more vulnerable to abuses.
“Many will opt to hide and become illegal workers while some will look for jobs in other countries for there are no decent jobs waiting for them back in the Philippines,” said Javellana./PN
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