Mother says Demafelis stayed for one more year in Kuwait to have Yolanda-hit house rebuilt



Joanna Demafelis, the OFW who was found dead inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment unit in Kuwait, was supposed to come home to the Philippines in 2016 but decided to stay for one more year to help finance the rebuilding of their house that was destroyed by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
A report by GMA News' Mariz Umali on 24 Oras on Monday said Demafelis also promised to put up a small sari-sari store in Iloilo so that her mother will not have to work in the field.
"Hindi ko matanggap na ang parangap ng aking anak na maayos itong bahay, masakit talaga, hindi ko matanggap-tanggap na ganyan ang nangyari sa aking anak, ['yung bahay] hindi na niya mauuwian," said Demafelis' mother Eva.
"Ang sabi niya sa akin, m'am, papatayuan niya ako ng tindahan para hindi na raw ako mainitan [at] maulanan sa tubuhan atsaka sa palayan," she added.
Demafelis was only 26 when she decided to work as a domestic helper in Kuwait for the first time in 2014. Her communication with her family was limited to once every three months, as her employers — a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife — took possession of her cellphone.
Demafelis' fellow OFW who lives in the same apartment building had witnessed the daily abuse she suffered from her employers. Like Demafelis' relatives, the OFW said she last talked with the victim in September 2016.
"'Yung September na 'yun nag-usap-usap na kami ng kaibigan ko sa harap nila na tutulungan na namin siyang patakbuhin. Sabi niya ayaw niya kasi takot siya," the OFW, who requested anonymity, said.
The discovery of Demafelis' body prompted the Philippine government to ban the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait.
Prior to the ban, the deployment was suspended following reports of abuses on OFWs, some resulting in deaths.
Demafelis' employers have since fled to Lebanon. Her family is currently working to have her remains repatriated.
On Monday, Demafelis' two sisters joined Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III at a press conference in Manila to announce the deployment ban. —KBK, GMA News

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