MANILA, Philippines — The employers of Filipino domestic helper Jeanelyn Villavende who was beaten to death last December have already been charged with murder, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III revealed on Tuesday.
“Yesterday, I was informed that the employers have been formally charged with murder,” Bello disclosed during the Senate hearing of the committees on labor and foreign relations on the maltreatment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Villavende’s employers, a couple, are currently detained in a facility for “high criminals,” according to Bello.
Bello said he also had a series of meetings with the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the Philippines to expedite the resolution of the case and for it to be given priority by the Kuwaiti government.
An autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation revealed there were clear indications of sexual abuse on the 26-year-old victim.
“There were also old healed wounds indicating that Villavende had been battered weeks prior to the fateful incident,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said, citing the autopsy report.
The Philippine government had imposed a partial deployment ban on workers to Kuwait following the incident.
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