Joanna Demafelis didn’t report abuse, OWWA exec says


By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA News
Joanna Demafelis did not report the abuse she suffered allegedly in the hands of her employers in Kuwait before she was killed.
This was according to Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Deputy Administrator Arnel Ignacio in an interview with Bawal ang Pasaway. She was later found stuffed inside a freezer at an apartment in the Gulf state.
Nonetheless, Ignacio admitted that the agency was also to blame for Demafelis' fate.
The OFW was found dead a year after she was reported missing by her loved ones.
"She finished her contract eh and she even asked for an extension," Ignacio said.
Ignacio said that OWWA's fault was its inaction when Demafelis' sister Jessica reported her missing.
"Ito 'yung kasalanan … ng OWWA para maging patas tayo. Si Jessica 'yung kapatid niya, pumunta rito. Ang sa record namin, February nung 2017," Ignacio said.
"Sinend naman 'yan kaagad sa OWWA natin sa Kuwait kaya nga n-arecall 'yung dalawa[ng welfare officer]. Kasi nga mukhang di nila kinilusan, diyan tayo may kasalan." Ignacio added.
Ignacio said the welfare officers in Kuwait should have immediately located Demafelis.
"It's not really difficult to find somebody there eh. According to one of the welfare officers, ang sagot nga niya eh, ang tono eh...  'Sa dami ng ginagawa namin dito, it's virtually impossible to attend to all this,' parang ganon," Ignacio said.
Welfare officer Sarah Concepcion has been recalled after she supposedly failed to respond on Demafelis' case.
Demafelis' employers, Nader Essam Assaf and his wife Mona Hassoun, have been arrested by authorities over the weekend.
The killing of Demafelis has prompted the Philippine government to ban the deployment of first-time OFWs to Kuwait.
Demafelis' remains which were brought home to her province in Sara, Iloilo, will be buried at the Sara Public Cemetery on March 3. —Anna Felicia Bajo/NB, GMA News

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