THINGS have certainly moved faster than we might have expected in the case of Joanna Demafelis of Barangay Feraris, Sara, Iloilo.
It was only last Feb. 9 that President Duterte announced that overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Demafelis, missing for months in Kuwait, was found dead inside a freezer in an apartment abandoned by her former employers, a Lebanese and his Syrian wife. Last April 1, a Kuwait court sentenced the couple to death in absentia. They had been arrested in Damascus, Syria, by the Interpol.
After the discovery of Demafelis’ body, President Duterte called on Filipinos in Kuwait to return to the Philippines if they cannot get the protection they need. A total of 3,668 have since been flown home by Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines. There are about 11,000 undocumented Filipinos still in Kuwait.
With the swift action taken by the court, Kuwait evidently wanted to show the Philippines and the rest of the world that the murder of Demafelis will not go unpunished. There is still a long way to go before this happens, as the arrested Lebanese employer and his Syrian wife are still in their own countries, awaiting extradition. They may appeal the death sentences if they return to Kuwait.
But the Kuwait government has done what it can and acted swiftly on the case. Our own courts are not known for such swift and decisive action, with many cases lasting for years and years. We might not want our court system moving as fast – less than three months from the discovery of the body on Jan. 9 to conviction on April 1 – but it should not take our courts so many long years to decide most cases.
In any case, we appreciate the Kuwaiti government’s action on the Demafelis case. The thousands of Filipinos still working in Kuwait should feel more secure in the knowledge that the Philippine government worked swiftly after the discovery of Demafelis’ grisly death and President Duterte’s call on various countries in the Middle East to treat their Filipino workers as human beings.
Our ultimate goal is to make overseas work a matter of choice, not necessity for Filipinos. It is a goal which we must strive to reach through our country’s economic growth and development.
