THE alleged recruiter of slain overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis on Thursday apologized to the latter’s family, saying she, a domestic helper herself, never wanted the 29-year-old to die in the hands of her employers.
Agnes Tuballes, a distant relative—how distant she did not say—of Demafelis, surfaced before the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police to clear her name regarding the killing of Demafelis in Kuwait.
Tuballes told a news conference in Camp Crame she assumed that Demafelis was doing well in her job since she never heard of any complaint from her employers.
Tuballes said they already lost contact with Demafelis ever since the latter got hired.
At the same time, the CIDG said Tuballes was not yet a suspect.
For now, Tuballes, who has voluntarily turned herself in, is considered a material witness in the investigation against the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc., the agency that deployed Demafelis to Kuwait in 2016, Director Roel Obusan said, according to a Radyo Pilipinas report.
Tuballes vehemently denied being Demafelis’ recruiter, saying she merely referred the victim to the agency and received a referral fee as a result.
At the time of Tuballes’ referral, Demafelis was already working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the National Bureau of Investigation to look for the local recruiters of the slain housemaid following the arrest of her employers, Lebanese national Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife, Mona Hassoun, last week.
The two are the principal suspects in the death of Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in an abandoned building in Kuwait City early this year.
Demafelis’ remains, which were brought to her hometown of Sara, Iloilo, will be laid to rest at the Sara Public Cemetery on March 3. PNA
