DOLE asks NBI to conduct autopsy on slain OFW in Kuwait

JUSTICE FOR JEANELYN. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac meet with the kin of slain OFW Jeanelyn Villavende in Manila on Tuesday (Jan. 7, 2020). The DOLE has asked the NBI to conduct an autopsy on Villavende’s remains which are set to arrive in the country from Kuwait on Wednesday. (PNA photo by Ferdinand Patinio)

MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday formally asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an autopsy on the remains of Jeanelyn Villavende.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said this is to verify findings of Kuwait authorities that earlier conducted their autopsy on the body of the Filipino worker.

“For our own satisfaction, especially the President, we want validation from our own NBI,” he said in an interview.

Based on the embalmment report by the Sabah Hospital in Kuwait released by Bello, the OFW died from “acute failure of heart and respiration as (a) result (of) shock and multiple injuries (in the) vascular nervous system”.

Villavende’s remains are set to arrive in Manila on Wednesday and will be flown home to Mindanao on Thursday.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) Administrator Hans Cacdac might go to the airport for her,” Bello said.

“I am going to General Santos City on Friday. I will visit her there,” he added.

The parents of the OFW, Abelardo, and Nelly, have met with Bello and Cacdac at the DOLE main office in Manila on Tuesday.

The killing of Villavende allegedly by her Kuwaiti employer has prompted the Philippine government to impose a partial deployment ban in Kuwait, particularly on newly hired household service workers.