MANILA: The Philippines is maintaining its ban on deploying workers to Kuwait, despite the arrest of the employers of a Filipino worker found dead in a freezer in the Gulf state, President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said on Monday.
“We certainly appreciate the arrest” of Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun, said Roque.
But “in addition to the arrest, we would like to see them prosecuted and punished for the murder of Joanna (Demafelis),” he added. “As of now, the deployment ban stays.”
Her employers were arrested last Thursday in Syria, where they fled after leaving Kuwait last year.
Citing information received by the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, Foreign Minister Alan Cayetano said Hassoun is now in the custody of authorities in Damascus, while Assaf has been turned over to Lebanese authorities.
They are the main suspects in the murder of Demafelis, 29, whose body was found in a freezer in an apartment in Kuwait earlier this month. The apartment had been abandoned by her employers in 2016.
Her death sparked outrage in the Philippines, prompting Duterte to impose a ban on deploying Filipino workers to Kuwait.
Meanwhile, as the ban enters its fifth week, hundreds of affected overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are appealing to the Philippine government.
Recruitment consultant and migration expert Emmanuel Geslani has urged Labor Minister Silvestre Bello to reconsider the decision to maintain the ban, which includes skilled workers.
“These skilled workers are oil and gas engineers, IT professionals, nurses, medical and laboratory technicians, store managers, sales personnel, communication technicians, maintenance personnel, electricians, plumbers and carpenters who have been issued visas and are just awaiting their plane tickets from their employers,” Geslani told Arab News.
Since the ban was imposed on Jan. 22, “the world has stopped for them for the past month with no solution in sight,” he said.
“The skilled workers who were recruited and processed by licensed agencies deploying to Kuwait have already resigned from their jobs after being selected for the jobs in Kuwait,” he added.
“Many of them pleaded with… Bello that since they had resigned, they practically have no more income to support their families (and) they are looking forward to their deployment to Kuwait, which offered them three to four times higher than their present salaries,” said Geslani.
“If the impasse on the deployment ban continues for the next month, recruitment agencies fear that the visas for the skilled workers will expire, including their medical results, which are only good for three months,” he added.
“Once the visas expire and the principal does not extend them, the foreign jobs are definitely lost for the workers, who are now jobless with no hope of returning to their former jobs.”
Some 300 affected skilled workers sought an audience with Bello last week, and appealed to him to lift the deployment ban for their sector.
Geslani said Bello told them he is waiting for Kuwait’s government to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that adds protection guarantees for OFWs, but the skilled workers told the minister that they are adequately covered by the Gulf state’s labor laws.
When asked if he would recommend lifting the ban following the arrest of the suspects in the Demafelis murder case, Bello said: “It will be the president who will decide on that.” If Kuwait signs the MoU, “there is a possibility that the president might lift the ban.”
There are currently 270,000 OFWs in the Gulf state — almost 150,000 household service workers, and the rest skilled workers.
Geslani said there will be a drop in remittances of more than $1.3 billion from Kuwait if Manila carries out its threat of a permanent deployment ban.
He also expressed concern that the ban could harm the Philippines’ friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar and Yemen, which in total host 2.2 million Filipinos who send annual remittances of almost $28 billion.
Philippines to maintain ban on sending workers to Kuwait
Philippines to maintain ban on sending workers to Kuwait
Two high-speed trains derail in Spain, police sources say 21 people killed
- The accident happened near Adamuz, in Cordoba province. So far, 21 people have been confirmed dead by police
MADRID: A high-speed train derailed and smashed into another oncoming train in southern Spain on Sunday, pushing the second train off the tracks in a collision that police sources confirmed to Reuters had killed at least 21 people.
The accident happened near Adamuz, in Cordoba province. So far, 21 people have been confirmed dead by police, with state broadcaster Television Espanola adding that 100 people had been injured, 25 seriously. The driver of one of the trains, which was traveling from Madrid to Huelva, was among those who died, the TV station added.
“The Iryo 6189 Malaga — (to Madrid) train has derailed from the track at Adamuz, crashing onto the adjacent track. The (Madrid) to Huelva train which was traveling on the adjacent track has also derailed,” said Adif, which runs the rail network, in a social media post.
Adif said the accident happened at 6:40 p.m. (1740 GMT), about 10 minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading toward Madrid.
Iryo is a private rail operator, majority-owned by Italian state-controlled railway group Ferrovie dello Stato. The train involved was a Freccia 1000 train which was traveling between Malaga and Madrid, a spokesperson for Ferrovie dello Stato said.
The company said in a statement that it deeply regretted what had happened and had activated all emergency protocols to work closely with the relevant authorities to manage the situation.
The second train was operated by Renfe, which also did not respond to a request for comment.
Adif has suspended all rail services between Madrid and Andalusia.
HORRIFIC SCENE
The Iryo train had more than 300 passengers on board, while the Renfe train had around 100.
Paco Carmona, Cordoba fire chief, told TVE the first train heading to Madrid from Malaga had been evacuated.
The other train’s carriages were badly damaged, he said, with twisted metal and seats. “There are still people trapped. We don’t know how many people have died and the operation is concentrating on getting people out of areas which are very narrow,” he said. “We have to remove the bodies to reach anyone who is still alive. It is proving to be a complicated task.”
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said he was following events from rail operator Adif’s headquarters in Madrid.
“The latest information is very serious,” he posted on X. “The impact was terrible, causing the first two carriages of the Renfe train to be thrown off the track. The number of victims cannot be confirmed at this time. The most important thing now is to help the victims.”
The mayor of Adamuz, Rafael Moreno, told El Pais newspaper that he had been among the first to arrive at the scene of the accident alongside the local police and saw what he believed to be a badly lacerated body several meters from the accident site.
“The scene is horrific,” he said. “I don’t think they were on the same track, but it’s not clear. Now the mayors and residents of the area are focused on helping the passengers.”
CALLS FOR MEDICS
Images on local television showed a reception center set up for passengers in the town of Adamuz, population 5,000, with locals coming and going with food and blankets amid nighttime temperatures of around 42 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius).
A woman named Carmen posted on X that she had been on board the Iryo train to Madrid. “Ten minutes after departing (from Cordoba) the train started to shake a lot, and it derailed from coach 6 behind us. The lights went out.”
Footage posted by another Iryo train passenger, also on X, showed an Iryo staffer in a fluorescent jacket instructing passengers to remain in their seats in the darkened carriages, and those with first aid training to keep watch over fellow passengers. He also urged people to maintain mobile phone batteries to be able to use their torches when they disembarked.
Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for RTVE who was on board the Iryo train, shared images showing the nose of the rear carriage of the train lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on the side of the carriage facing upwards.
Jimenez told TVE by phone from beside the stricken trains that passengers had used emergency hammers to smash the windows and climb out, and they had seen two people taken out of the overturned carriages on stretchers.
“There’s a certain uncertainty about when we’ll get to Madrid, where we’ll spend the night, we’ve had no message from the train company yet,” he said. “It’s very cold but here we are.”
