MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) maintains that the Philippine government will not accept the offer of P7.5 million blood money from the family of the employer of Jeanelyn Villavende.

Villavende was the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was sexually assaulted and brutally killed in Kuwait in December 2019.

In a tweet, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin ordered the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait to stop processing the blood money payout for Villavende’s demise.

Villavende’s female employer was sentenced to death for the crime.

Based on the law in the Middle East, the convict may offer the victim’s family blood money in exchange for his or her life.

Locsin wants Embassy officials to ensure that the Kuwait court’s sentence will be served.

The DFA chief said the Philippine government can and should provide for the blood money to help Villavende’s family.

Locsin warns anyone on the side of the Philippines who will attempt to defer the sentence.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte requested the Kuwaiti government to impose the heaviest punishment on Jeanelyn’s employers.

It can be recalled, as well, that this case prompted the Philippines to enforce a total ban on deployment of OFWs to Kuwait.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III supports Locsin that the government should provide for the family of Villavende.

Bello added that the government may also raise money similar to what it did to save the life of an OFW who was sentenced for the murder of his employer and the government was able to raise P30 million pesos as blood money.

“I agree with that para wala ng blood money kasi the blood money  does not give justice to the parents of Jeanelyn Villavende,” Secretary Bello said.

To date, the total ban of OFWs to Kuwait remains in effect due to continuous reports of violations such as nonpayment of salary, abuse, and employers who are taking the passports and cellphones of OFWs by force. –MNP (with reports from Rey Pelayo)

MANILA, Philippines — The government of Kuwait has granted clemency to overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Bienvenido Espino after serving 13 years in jail on death row for the murder of his Filipina partner in 2008.

According to Philippine Embassy in Kuwait Charge D’affaires and Consul General Pendosina Lomondot, Espino was pardoned by the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah during the recently concluded Eid season, along with other Filipino detainees at Sulaibiya Central Jail.

“On behalf of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, my deepest and most profound gratitude goes to His Highness The Amir for granting clemency to OFW Bienvenido Espino, and for giving our kababayan a chance to start a new life in the Philippines,” Chargé d’Affaires Lomondot said.

In May 2008, the Kuwaiti Court of First Instance found Espino guilty of murdering his Filipina partner in October 2007, and sentenced him to death by hanging. 

The said decision was upheld by the Kuwaiti Court of Appeals in January 2009, and by the Kuwait Court of Cassation in November 2009.

However, Espino received a tanazul or letter of forgiveness from the family of his late Filipina partner after settling the blood money for the crime. 

The issuance of a tanazul led to the commutation of his death sentence to life imprisonment in 2013. 

Lomondot said Espino’s case had been under negotiation since the administrations of Presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno S. Aquino III.  

The embassy official sent off Espino at the Kuwait International Airport on August 30 along with other Filipinos who availed the repatriation flight arranged by the Philippine government for OFWs who wish to return home due to the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday said it is scaling down the deployment of workers to Kuwait over its new requirement for returning expatriates from the Philippines and nine other nations to present proof they are not infected with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said scaling down of deployment means that the government will slow down the issuance of overseas employment certificates (OEC) by delaying its processing for one month.

An OEC is an exit clearance for departing Filipino migrant workers.

“It’s not a retaliatory order, it’s a practical order. They are requiring so many requirements for our workers, that’s giving more burden to our workers. In order to prevent our workers from going there, they might as well go to other countries,” Bello told reporters in a briefing.

He, however, said he has spoken with the Department of Foreign Affairs to work out an arrangement with Kuwaiti authorities to honor medical certificates issued by Department of Health-run hospitals and local health centers, which are issued for free.

Kuwait, which reported 56 confirmed coronavirus infections, announced on Wednesday that expatriates from the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Georgia and Lebanon.

READ: Expats from Philippines, 9 other countries returning to Kuwait to face new protocol amid COVID-19 spread

The new travel protocol, which will take effect on March 8, requires expatriates to undergo medical examination and present certificates that confirms they are not infected with the virus before entering the Gulf state.

These certificates must be issued by health centers approved by the Embassy of State of Kuwait. If there is no Kuwaiti embassy in these countries, they must be certified by the health authorities operating in the said countries.

Expatriates failing to comply with the new protocol will be denied entry to Kuwait and deported to their country of origin “without the State bearing any financial costs” through the same carrier.

The airline company will also be fined for violating the order.

The country’s partial deployment ban to Kuwait remains in place, only allowing semi-skilled, skilled, and professional workers to return to their employers. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Asher Cadapan Jr.)