DMW to help family of Filipina housemaid whose body was found in Kuwait
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will provide assistance to the family of a Filipina housemaid in Kuwait whose burnt remains were found in a desert recently.
According to reports, the body of 35-year-old Jullebee Ranara was discovered on Salmi road. Within 24 hours, a 17-year-old male suspect confessed to murdering her and was placed under the custody of Kuwaiti police.
“Since Jullebee is an active OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) member, we will provide burial and death assistance and scholarship for her four children…In terms of the mandatory insurance, her family will be receiving the full amount,” Migrant Welfare Secretary Susan Ople told dzBB.
Ople said that before the corpse of Ranara was found, she complained to her parents over the phone about how the son of her employer was mistreating her and threatened her life.
“This is the second time she has become an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker). She was a housemaid in Bahrain. She was only employed in Kuwait this July,” Ople said.
“I talked to her parents yesterday morning. They told me last Friday, they were still able to talk to her. On Saturday, they couldn’t talk to her anymore. On Sunday, Jullebee was found dead,” she added.
In a privilege speech Tuesday, Senator Jinggoy Estrada described the details of Ranara's death.
''What's more harrowing in Ranara's case is the report by the local news outlets in the state of Kuwait that the arrested perpetrator who confessed to the crime is a 17-year Kuwaiti national and the son of her employer who allegedly raped and impregnated her,'' said Estrada.
''The victim was beaten, ran over by the perpetrator's car twice and was burnt and left for dead in the desert,'' said Estrada.
Ople said they are making arrangements to repatriate Ranara’s remains.
“Her remains don’t have to stay long (in Kuwait) since the suspect has been caught. So I guess the next step is the trial. We do not see any obstacles that will delay the repatriation of the remains. That’s what our labor attache and welfare officer are working on,” she said.
According to Ople, there is no need for another deployment ban in Kuwait, which was imposed by President Rodrigo Duterte after the body of Filipina household help was found stuffed in a freezer in 2018.
Two more Filipina overseas foreign workers also died in Kuwait.
“We don’t think it’s needed because the Kuwaiti government is cooperating with our government and embassy. And it hasn’t even been 24 hours and the suspect is already in police custody,” she said.
“And up for negotiation is the bilateral labor agreement. So we are planning to follow the formula we did in Saudi Arabia, wherein we will include more guarantees of security for our workers in their contracts,” she added.
Duterte previously imposed a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in Kuwait in January 2020 after a Filipina housemaid was found dead in the freezer of her employer’s apartment. The ban was later lifted on February 2020. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
