DFA, DOJ urged to form task force to monitor case vs. Demafelis’ employers


ACTS OFW party-list Representative John Bertiz III on Monday called on the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice to create a task force that will monitor the case of the foreign employers of slain OFW Joanna Demafelis.
Bertiz, in a statement, highlighted the need to form a "Task Force Justice for Joanna" considering that the case involves three countries.
“Based on news reports, it appears that Syrian authorities handed the husband, Nader Essam Assaf to Lebanese authorities while keeping his Syrian wife under detention, and the sentencing to death in absentia took place in Kuwait," he said.
"The creation of the task force signals the commitment of the Philippine government to obtain justice for Joanna at all costs by monitoring and following up on the different aspects of the case in all three locations," he added.
Demafelis, a Filipina domestic worker, was found dead in a freezer in an apartment previously owned by her employers in Kuwait.
Autopsy report shows that Demafelis died due to the severe beating she suffered allegedly at the hands of her employers.
A Kuwaiti court on Sunday sentenced to death by hanging Assaf and his Syrian wife over Demafelis' death.
Bertiz said the role of the DOJ in the case is crucial as the owner of Demafelis' recruitment agency has yet to surrender.
"We are calling on the owner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Global Solutions to surrender himself and disclose the manner by which Joanna had been recruited,” he said.
The lawmaker also expressed appreciation on the immediate action of the Interpol and the Kuwaiti court on Demafelis' case.
This, however, should not mean that the total deployment ban of domestic workers to Kuwait should be lifted, he said.
"Our goal should be to ensure that every Filipino domestic worker bound for Kuwait and elsewhere will be protected from harm and abuse. While we welcome these positive developments in her case, let us not forget how Joanna died," Bertiz said.
"It is imperative that labor migration reforms both here and in Kuwait are identified and jointly implemented,” he added.
Bertiz expressed full support to the conditions that President Rodrigo Duterte set, that Filipino domestic workers should be given healthy food, sufficient hours of sleep and freedom to call their families.
“I am confident that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment will follow the President’s instructions,” he said. —Erwin Colcol/KBK, GMA News

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