The Kuwaiti government will allow Filipino probers to join the investigation of the death of domestic helper Jeanelyn Villavende, allegedly in the hands of her employers several months after she arrived to work in the oil-rich kingdom last year.
Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Concerns Secretary Abdullah Mama-o said this was one of the commitments conveyed by Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah when he and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait’s Charge d’Affaires and Consul General Mohd Noordin Pendosina Lomondot met with the Kuwaiti official last Jan. 19 to discuss Villavende’s case and the safety and well-being of the more than 230,000 Filipinos living and working in the kingdom.
“To show Kuwait’s commitment in the case, Deputy Foreign Minister Al-Jarallah said his government is willing to allow investigators from the Philippines to join the investigation in Kuwait of the murder of Jeanelyn Villavende,” Mama-o said.
He said Al-Jarallah also promised to give justice to Villavende’s family.
Villavende’s employer and his wife, the alleged perpetrators of her killing, remain in jail in Kuwait.
Mama-o said the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry was expected to release soon the full report of the police investigation and autopsy on the case.
He said he also explained to Al-Jarallah the reason behind the recent decision of the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to ban the deployment of Filipinos to Kuwait in the wake of the killing of Villavende.
Of the more than 230,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait, 150,000 are domestic helpers.