DFA to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in Daynolo murder

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday vowed to seek justice for Mary Anne Daynolo, a Filipina worker in Abu Dhabi who went missing for 10 months and was found dead last January.

“UAE (United Arab Emirates) police arrested murder suspect — a colleague of Ms. Daynolo — confessed to crime. We’ll leave no stone unturned for justice,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said.

The agency, through the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, is in coordination with Daynolo’s next of kin and Abu Dhabi authorities on the ongoing criminal investigation surrounding her death.

“The DFA extends its deep condolences to the family and assures them of the Philippine government’s continuing guidance, support, and assistance in their time of grief and in the anticipated judicial process,” it said.

Daynolo left Manila for Abu Dhabi in February 2018 and was supposed to return to the Philippines in July 2020 for vacation. She was reported missing on March 4, 2020 by one of her siblings who also works in the UAE.

Local authorities in the UAE conducted a full-blown investigation which led to the arrest of the murder suspect who eventually confessed to the crime.

The suspect, an Ugandan national identified only as “Paul” and currently under police custody, was Daynolo’s colleague at the hotel they were working in.

Daynolo’s body, which bore a fatal knife wound in the neck, was reportedly found in an “advanced stage of decomposition” in one of the areas of the hotel she was working at last month.

Her remains arrived in Manila on Jan. 30, 2021, DFA officials said.