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BY JED JALECO DEL ROSARIO
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February 18, 2018
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WHEN an acquaintance asked me about the Ilongga who got murdered by her employers in Kuwait, I answered, “There’s not much else to say.”
They killed her and the Philippine government retaliated by issuing a deployment ban. Some say the ban is a sign of strong leadership from the Duterte administration while others say it’s nothing more but political posturing.
However, the Duterte administration’s response to the Filipina’s murder is irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. Based on what we presently know, Joanna Daniela Demafelis’ murderers were just that: murderers.
Demafelis’ murder was not the result of some deeper conspiracy, nor did she die due to some complex plot. She died because her employers found it convenient for her to die.
Now, one could argue that Demafelis’ death was the result of being ignored or abandoned by the authorities (both Kuwaiti and Filipino) to which I would respond, that’s nothing new.
Demafelis’ murder is neither the first nor the last of its kind. Stories of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) being killed, maltreated or exploited in the Middle East have been going on for decades, and it will continue as long as Filipinos keep going to that part of the world to seek work.
The only real question is whether the victims of these attacks will get any justice, to which the answer is most often no. And there’s not much else to say about that as well. Filipinos are foreigners in the Middle East, so why should they care if one of us dies? They owe us nothing, just as we don’t owe them anything. I sound cold for saying that but once again, there’s not much else to say.
Given the circumstances, the Duterte administration carried out one of the few options available, and that was to issue a deployment ban, but even this ban is meaningless in the long run. As long as there are Filipino OFWs, and as long as foreign countries are willing take them in, these cases will continue because they’re part of the risks of working abroad.
In my mind, being an OFW in the Middle East is a lot like working in a high-risk occupation, like mining or law enforcement. No matter how hard the authorities might try to keep things safe, no matter how many precautions people take, the job will continue to be dangerous, and every once in a while people will die or get hurt due to that danger.
It’s just statistical.
When such things do happen, there’s not much else to say. Those are just the risks that come with job. (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)
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