Gov’t to repatriate body of Pinay found in freezer in Kuwait

FILE: The government is preparing to bring home the remains of the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait on Wednesday. (Photo by Marlon E/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

MANILA — The government is preparing to bring home the remains of the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the body of 29-year-old Joanna Daniela Demafelis, from Iloilo, would still undergo tests to establish the cause of death before her body is sent back to the Philippines.

“Inihahanda na (pagbalik sa Pilipinas) pero kailangan pa i-DNA para malaman ang cause of death (It is being prepared, but it has to undergo DNA testing so we would know the cause of death),” he said in a radio interview.

Bello added that the Filipino worker was identified through her fingerprints.

At the same time, the DOLE chief reported that Kuwaiti authorities, in coordination with the International Police (Interpol), are expected to arrest the suspects, Lebanese and Syrian nationals, who were also reported as the employers of the Filipina OFW.

“Sabi naman they expect to arrest the couple in the next few days dahil alam nila ang address sa Lebanon ng mag-asawa at Interpol ang ginamit nila (The authorities said they will arrest the couple in the next few days because they know the latter’s address in Lebanon, and they used Interpol),”Bello said.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte earlier expressed disgust over the death of the Filipina worker and the “inhumane treatment of Filipino workers in Kuwait”.

“Medyo apektado ang ating Pangulo dahil sa dami ng ating kababayan na namamatay at nagpapakamatay (Our president is really affected because of the huge number of Filipinos who died and those who committed suicide),” he added.

On Wednesday, authorities found the Filipina’s body, believed to be in the storage for more than a year.