MANILA — Malacañang on Monday welcomed the decision of a Kuwaiti court to mete out the death sentence to the principal suspects and employers in the murder of Filipina domestic worker Joanna Demafelis.
“Well of course the President and the, I suppose, the entire Filipino people will be happy to know that that is true. That’s what we want, justice for Demafelis,” Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a Palace briefing.
“Let’s hope that in fact that is true and that the couple will actually be apprehended and brought to the bars of justice,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Kuwaiti authorities informed DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola of the court decision during a meeting on Sunday.
The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait was able to obtain a copy of the court order and is now waiting for a formal notification from Kuwaiti authorities.
Despite these developments, Guevarra said that the deployment ban to Kuwait still “holds”.
“The agreement — that still holds, the ban on total ban on sending OFWs to Kuwait is still on,” Gueverra said.
Gueverra stressed that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) is being formulated by the Philippines and the Gulf state to protect OFWs in Kuwait as a “solution” to the ban.
“But of course an agreement, a memorandum of understanding is being formulated and hopefully the parties will — the state parties will come to terms as to how our OFWs in Kuwait as well as in other Middle Eastern countries will be protected,” Guevarra said.
Last March 22, Duterte said he will not lift the deployment ban if the Kuwaiti government disagrees with mandatory provisions he included in the MOU, which is set to be signed by the Philippines and Kuwait.
“I demanded several things. I said if these will not be approved, Silvestro Bello, Labor Secretary, I’m sorry, no lifting of the ban,” President Rodrigo R. Duterte said in his speech during the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte National Executive Coordinating Committee (MRRD-NECC) National Convention held at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The murder of Demafelis and other abuses done to Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait earlier prompted Duterte to impose the total deployment ban of new Filipino workers in Kuwait. (PNA)
