News
Bello mulls total ban on deployment of OFWs to Kuwait
TOTAL DEPLOYMENT BAN. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (holding the mic) says on Friday (Jan.
10, 2020) the government may declare a total ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait in the wake of the questionable autopsy report released by the Kuwaiti government on the death late last month of domestic helper Jeanelyn Villavende. Bello, who held a press conference at the victim’s wake in Barangay Tinago, Norala town in South Cotabato, said the results of the initial autopsy in Kuwait contradicted with the re-autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation. (PNA photo by Allen V. Estabillo)
NORALA, South Cotabato — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Friday the government may declare a total ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait in the wake of the questionable autopsy report released by the Kuwaiti government on the death late last month of domestic helper Jeanelyn Villavende.
In a press conference at the victim’s wake in Purok Guimbal, Barangay Tinago here, Bello deplored the results of the initial autopsy in Kuwait, noting that it highly contradicted the re-autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a funeral parlor here on Thursday.
He did not disclose the details of the re-autopsy pending the release of the official report but said he was verbally briefed on the initial findings by Dr. Ricardo Rodaje, the NBI’s medico-legal chief, on Friday morning.
“Lumalabas na walang kuwenta ang ginawang autopsy ng Kuwait. Di ko pa masabi ang resulta pero talagang kasinungalingan yung autopsy report ng Kuwaiti government (It appears that the autopsy conducted in Kuwait was useless. I can’t discuss the results yet but it made the autopsy report of the Kuwaiti government a total lie),” Bello said.
When pressed by reporters for details, he said they “did wicked things to the victim and oppressed her too much.”
The autopsy report earlier released by Kuwaiti authorities said the 26-year-old Villavende died of acute heart and respiratory failure as a result of shock and multiple injuries in the vascular system.
However, Rodaje told reporters here after the more-than-three-hour autopsy on Thursday that they were looking into the possibility that the victim was also raped before her death.
Villavende was brought dead to a hospital in Kuwait on December 28 after reportedly being beaten by her lady employer. Her family here was informed of her death on December 30.
Bello, who last week declared a partial ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait, said he doubted the “one-sentence” autopsy findings released by Kuwaiti authorities as the cause of the victim’s death was unclear.
He said he immediately requested the NBI to conduct a re-autopsy on Villavende after the repatriation of her remains.
Once he receives the official report on the NBI’s re-autopsy, Bello said he would convene the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and may recommend a total deployment ban of OFWs to Kuwait.
“That will not be lifted until we get proper justice (for Villavende),” he said.
As to the suspects in the killing, he said the Kuwaiti couple who had employed the victim has already been detained as confirmed by the labor attache of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait.
He said Kuwaiti Ambassador to Manila Musaed Saleh Ahmad Althwaihk informed him in a meeting last week that the suspects have already been charged.
Bello said Althwaihk has failed on his promise to deliver a copy of the charge sheet last Monday.
