President Rodrigo Roa Duterte pays his last respects to the late Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis as the President visits the wake at their residence in Barangay Anoring, Iloilo on February 22, 2018. Joining the President are the late OFW’s parents Crisanto and Ana Demafelis and Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go. RICHARD MADELO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Barangay Anoring, Iloilo
Seen here are some of the photos taken by Malacanang when President Rodrigo Duterte visited the wake of the slain overseas Filipina worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis on February 22, where he personally condoled with the parents of the murdered Filipina.
He gave them at least half a million pesos in financial assistance, and assured them that justice will be served as soon as those responsible for the abuse and killing of Joanna will be arrested.
“It behooves upon the police of Kuwait and the Interpol, there’s a serious crime. Problema nila ‘yan. Basta ako, the ban stays,” he said then.
“The only way to do that is we can have the result of the investigations kung nahuli ‘yang dalawang tao and that would allow me now to initiate charges. So by that time, in the fullness of God’s time, kung mangyari ‘yan mahuli at nademanda, doon pa ako papasok,” he said.
“Until then, we’ll just have to wait and pray that they will be apprehended or arrested,” he added.
A few days after the visit, news about the arrest of the couple — a Lebanese and a Syrian national — was reported in the media.
The employers of a Filipina maid found dead in a freezer in Kuwait were both arrested in the Syrian capital Damascus, a Lebanese judicial official said on Saturday, February 24.
Syrian authorities surrendered Nader Essam Assaf to Beirut on Friday because of his Lebanese citizenship but his Syrian wife Mona remains in custody in Damascus, the official said. (Eage News Service with an AFP report)