The workers group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said it supports Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin’s demand to punish those behind the murder of Filipino household worker Jeanelyn Villavende with the death penalty.
TUCP Party-list congressman Raymond Mendoza said the perpetrators should receive the same manner Villavende was tortured, raped and brutally killed.
Locsin drew the ire of Kuwaiti officials for issuing the statement, according to Mendoza.
“The TUCP Party-list and the TUCP family of unions are authorizing and supporting Foreign Secretary Locsin’s strong position in demanding from Kuwaiti government to punish the Kuwaiti employers of our Jeanelyn Villavende with death penalty for the perpetrators in the same manner she was tortured, raped and brutally killed,” he said.
“We urged Mr. Locsin to be steadfast in this demand and pursue all means until real justice for Jeanelyn is achieved, “ Mendoza said.
The TUCP condemned the efforts of Kuwait government to whitewash the case by its willful dishonest medical death report indicating Jeanelyn died from mere “physical injuries.”
In testimony into the inquiry in aid of legislation of the House of Representatives Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs on the death of Villavende, Mendoza, chairman of committee, said an autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation on her remains showed that she was tortured in various forms in several times for several weeks, raped, sodomized before she was killed by the suspects on Dec. 28, 2019.
“We also share with Secretary Locsin the position of the department in renouncing all forms of ‘blood money’ being offered by the couple to absolved themselves from the punishment of their heinous crime inflicted on Jeanelyn,” he said.
“We also commended Mr. Locsin for hiring the best local lawyer to fight for the case of Jeanelyn as an important step in our struggle for justice rendered for her,” Mendoza said. Vito Barcelo
The TUCP urges the government’s foreign affairs, the labor department, the overseas employment agency, and the overseas workers administrators to take pro-active steps in ensuring the family of Jeanelyn will be insulated from the tempting offer of blood money from the family or emissaries of the perpetrators to lighten or to absolved the Kuwaiti couple from the consequences of their crime, said Mendoza.