Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. ordered the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait to stop paying P7.5 million “blood money” to the family of slain overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Jeanelyn Villavende.
In a Twitter post, Locsin expressed frustration with the incident in Villavende’s case, ordering the Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Noordin Pendosina Lomondot to “ensure” that the death penalty would be imposed on Villavende’s employer.
“Lomondot to report in writing the shenanigans going on there and what he’s done about it, what he’s done to stop it. We had this; he lost it; he’s gotta get it back. All trips to Middle East for photo ops and palabas stopped. Travel money needed to match blood money,” said Locsin.
“Malacañang is on to this ignominy. There must be hell to pay if anyone on our side shows ambivalence and a lack of total commitment. This is unforgivable,” he added.
In his Twitter post, Locsin even posted a picture of the body of the slain OFW.
Last December, a court in Kuwait sentenced Villavende’s employer to death by hanging.
Villavende’s employer appears to have tortured and imprisoned her until her death in 2019, according to DFA Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Brigido Dulay.
Locsin wants ‘blood money’ for slain OFW in Kuwait stopped
An embalming certificate from the Kuwait government has confirmed that Villavende, who was reportedly beaten “black and blue,” died of “acute failure of heart and respiration” as a result of shock and multiple injuries in the vascular, nervous system.
An autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation on Villavende’s body also revealed that she was exploited.
But the court sentenced Villavende’s male boss only four years in prison.
President Rodrigo Duterte has previously asked Kuwait to “execute” those who killed Villavende.
“I want their executioner to cut off the heads of those who are responsible for the death of the Filipina,” Duterte then said.
Villavende’s case prompted the Philippine government to implement a deployment ban in Kuwait in January 2020, which was later removed after the case was filed against those responsible for the death of OFWs.
executecarry out a process or program, as on a computer or a machineMore (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation)