MANILA, Philippines – The Kenyan worker who allegedly killed a Saudi Arabia-based overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is now in police custody, Philippine officials said on Tuesday, October 3.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) confirmed OFW Marjorette Garcia’s death on Monday, October 2. In an interview with PTV on Tuesday, Foreign Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes confirmed that Garcia was found with stab wounds, and was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
“‘Yung suspect o ‘yung supposed perpetrator ng krimen na ito ay nahuli na rin po ng pulis ng Saudi Arabia, at under investigation na po ang kaso,” said Cortes. (The suspect or supposed prepetrator of this crime has been arrested by Saudi Arabian police, and the case is under investigation.)
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported on Tuesday that the alleged perpetrator was Garcia’s Kenyan co-worker.
Garcia was deployed as a domestic worker in 2021, and left behind a husband and children.
On Tuesday, OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio met with Garcia’s Philippine recruitment agency to gather more details of the crime. Cortes said that once the Saudi Arabian government releases documentation of her death, the Philippines can initiate the repatriation of her remains.
“We are waiting for the investigation and the results so that we can supply clear details to the next of kin, the family, and of course to the public and the media,” Cortes said in a mix of English and Filipino.
DMW officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac, in a separate interview on PTV on Tuesday, vowed justice for Garcia’s death.
“Rest assured pag may krimen po na ilalantad o ilalahad doon sa investigation result, nakaabang na ang ating legal retainer at ang ating koordinasyon sa prosecutorial office doon para mabigyan ng hustisya ‘yung ating mahal na kababayan na si OFW Marjorette,” said Cacdac.
(Rest assured that if there is a crime uncovered in the investigation result, our legal retainer is on standby as well as our coordination with the prosecutorial office there, so that we can get justice for our beloved OFW Marjorette.)
The Philippines lifted its deployment ban on Saudi Arabia, the world’s top destination for OFWs, in November 2022. Reasons for the year-long ban included abuses against Filipino domestic workers and unpaid claims of thousands of laid-off construction workers.
The two countries instilled labor reforms that aimed to better protect the rights of migrant workers, such as a new standard employment contract that allowed Filipino domestic workers to immediately terminate their contracts upon receiving maltreatment from their employers. – Rappler.com
