Employer, recruiters of slain OFW in Kuwait face disciplinary action — DMW

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government is going after the recruitment agencies behind the deployment of the overseas Filipino worker who was killed in Kuwait, the Department of Migrant Workers said on Friday.

DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olaila said in a briefing that the agencies that recruited 35-year-old Jullebee Ranara are facing a “recruitment violation case and disciplinary action.” He did not specify the violations committed by the local and foreign recruitment agencies.

“The investigation is ongoing and if proven that there is negligence, it will definitely lead to sanctions,” Olaila said in Filipino.

The DMW identified the local recruitment agency as Catalist International Manpower Services Company and the foreign recruitment agency as Platinum International Office.

According to DMW Secretary Susan Ople, authorities are looking into the track record of Catalist and Platinum recruitment agencies.

Catlist was ordered to contact the 55 OFWs that it has deployed to Kuwait and report their status to the government, Ople added.

Ranara’s burnt body was found in a desert in Kuwait. The 17-year-old son of Ranara’s employers was named the suspect.

Olaila also said the Kuwaiti employer of Ranara will be blacklisted.

“We already preventively suspended the employer because of the death of our OFW. We already imposed a disciplinary action against the employer,” he said.

Ople ruled out imposing a Kuwait deployment ban, and said the government wants to work closely with the government of the Middle Eastern nation in the screening of employers.

The Philippines previously banned workers from traveling to Kuwait, after the deaths of Joanna Demafelis in 2018 and Jeanelyn Villavende in 2019 — both Filipino domestic helpers deployed there.

Probe in Kuwait

Kuwaiti Ambassador to the Philippines Musaed Saleh Althwaikh, in a letter to Ranara’s mother, said the “incident is being investigated by the Kuwaiti competent authorities and we assure you that the law in Kuwait and the judiciary will give justice to the victim.”

He added that the suspect “will be punished accordingly.”

Ranara’s remains, which will arrive in the Philippines on Friday night, will be autopsied by the National Bureau of Investigation as requested by her family.

There are over 268,000 OFWs in Kuwait, according to DMW Undersecretary Hans Cacdac. Of those, 195,000 are household workers.