Duterte visits Joanna Demafelis’ wake, vows justice


By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News
President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday visited the wake of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis, whose death prompted him to impose a ban on deployment of new hires to Kuwait.
Duterte spent around 30 minutes at the Demafelis residence in Sara town in Iloilo, talking to members of her family, including her mother Eva and father Crisanto.
After the visit, Duterte told reporters that he promised justice for Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait two weeks ago.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has ordered a probe into the alleged inaction of its attached agencies on Demafelis' case.
A red notice has also been put up by the INTERPOL in Syria and Lebanon against Demafelis' employers, a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife.
"So by that time, in the fullness of God’s time, kung mangyari ‘yan mahuli at nademanda, doon pa ako papasok. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and pray that they will be apprehended or arrested," Duterte said.
Duterte also said the government is doing an audit to "find out the places" apart from Kuwait "where we deploy Filipinos and our countrymen suffer brutal treatment and human degradation."
"Ina-audit pa po because you have to have a list then you have to have the individual cases reported and unreported. That would be a long, long task," the President said.
Demafelis' remains will be laid to rest at the Sara Public Cemetery on March 3. —KBK, GMA News

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