ILOILO CITY — The family of slain migrant worker Joanna Daniela Demafelis expressed gratitude upon hearing the news that a court hearing her case in Kuwait has sentenced her employers to death by hanging.
“We were relieved and we really thank the government because they did not fail to help resolve the case of our sibling,” Joejet Demafelis, eldest brother of Joanna, said in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday.
The family has received information from Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration administrator Hans Leo Cacdac that the Kuwaiti Criminal Court had already issued a death sentence against Joanna’s employers, Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun.
Joejet said the report was an answered prayer for their family as they have been praying for justice when they were invited by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle for the washing-of-feet rites at the Manila Cathedral on Maundy Thursday.
He said the whole family is still in Manila as they were on standby in case they are needed by authorities for Joanna’s case.
Their parents and other siblings will return to their hometown in Sara, Iloilo in the coming days to oversee the construction of their house, which Joanna had started when she was still working in Kuwait.
Joejet said their pawned riceland has already been claimed last March 26 and will be prepared for the coming planting season.
Joanna’s body was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait in February. The 29-year-old was laid to rest last March 3.
Last March 1, Joanna’s alleged recruiter formally surrendered to the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (PNA)
