THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday said the Saudi police have arrested a “foreign national” as a suspect in the death of overseas Filipino worker Marjorette Garcia.
“May suspek na po at ang suspek ay nasa kustodiya ng police (There is already a suspect and he is under police custody). (They) are already investigating so, hinihintay na lang natin ang detalye ng imbestigasyon (We are waiting for details of their investigation) before we are able to release details on what happened,” DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” program on state-run PTV television.
“He was found shortly after (the incident) close to the area where she was found bloodied,” Cortes said.
Cortes declined to provide additional details, such as the nationality of the suspect, citing the ongoing investigation of Saudi authorities.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has said it is already coordinating with Saudi authorities in the investigation of the death of the 32-year-old household service worker.
Garcia started working as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia in 2021 and was supposed to return to the country this month. She was supposedly found dead with stab wounds on her body last Saturday.
Reports said the last time Garcia was able to talk to her family was on September 15.
Garcia is the latest OFW to die in the Middle East after Jullebee Ranara who was murdered in Kuwait earlier this year.
Cortes said the DFA and the DMW will extend financial assistance to Garcia’s family, as well as facilitate the repatriation of her remains to Manila.
He, however, appealed to her family’s understanding, saying it might take some time for her remains to be repatriated.
“We will wait for the investigation, about a week, and when the documentation is complete, so that by the third or fourth week of October, baka maiuwi na ang kanyang mga labi (maybe we can already bring home her remains),” the DFA official said.
Cortes said Saudi authorities need to first conduct an autopsy on Garcia to determine the cause of her death and complete its investigation into the incident before her remains can be brought back to the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday called for an investigation in aid of legislation on the killing of Garcia so the Senate can craft measures to strengthen mechanisms for the protection of the country’s women migrant workers.
Senate Resolution No. 817, which Hontiveros filed last Monday, will also determine the circumstances behind the killing of Garcia.
“An inquiry must be conducted to bring justice to Garcia’s family, with the objective of ensuring that women migrant workers, who are often subjected to extensive violence, are protected and safeguarded,” Hontiveros said in the resolution.
“Garcia’s family wishes for the immediate return of her body to the country and requests for an investigation seeking justice for her death,” the resolution also said.
“In recent years, there have been several incidents of overseas Filipino workers facing abuse and maltreatment in the Middle East who never made it back to the country alive to return to their families, such as Constancia Dayag who was beaten and sexually assaulted by her employer last May 2019, and Jullibee Ranara who was raped, tortured and murdered last January 2023,” Hontiveros said.
A study conducted by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in 2021 showed that 60 percent of OFWs are women and that 75 percent of the 23,986 cases of abuse included women migrant workers. — With Raymond Africa
