By PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has started processing the release of livelihood assistance to an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who was saved from the death row in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Sisinio Cano, DOLE-Region 12 director, said Thursday they are currently working to provide former domestic helper Jennifer Dalquez livelihood assistance.
Cano said they initially explored possible employment opportunities for the former OF, but the latter instead chose the “self-employment option.”
He said Dalquez, who is a resident of Barangay Labangal here, preferred to manage a small business venture over regular employment as she did not finish her college degree.
“They already have a small sari-sari store and she wants to expand it and make it a sustainable source of livelihood,” Cano said in a press conference.
Dalquez, 31, returned home last Nov. 9 and reunited with her family after more than seven years abroad.
She was sentenced to death by a court in Al Ain, UAE in May 2015 for stabbing her employer to death on Dec. 7, 2014. She said the act was in self-defense after her employer tried to rape her.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) assisted in appealing the case and she was eventually acquitted on June 19, 2017.
But she remained in detention to complete a five-year jail term for theft and was eventually released last October 25.
Dalquez earlier said she will no longer seek another job opportunity abroad and instead stay home “for good” so she can take care of her two children.
Christine Sison, programs and services chief of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration-Region 12, said the agency also provided for the school needs of her two children.
Sison added that DOLE released a “substantial financial assistance” to Dalquez upon her arrival earlier this month.
