Alleged recruiter asks for forgiveness from Demafelis family

Agnes Tuballes (in orange), a distant relative and alleged recruiter of slain overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis, denied accountability on the domestic helper’s death as she faced the media at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Thursday, March 1, 2018. (INQUIRER.net/Jhoanna Ballaran)

A distant relative and the alleged recruiter of murdered overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Joanna Demafelis on Thursday apologized to the OFW’s family but maintained that she had no knowledge of what had happened to the OFW until it was reported by media.

According to Agnes Tuballes, members of the Demafelis family did not immediately inform her of Demafelis’ disappearance in 2016 even though they live in the same Iloilo neighborhood.

“Nakikiramay po ako sa pamilya ni Joanna. At saka hindi ko rin po ginusto yung nangyari. Sana kung pumunta kayo sa akin that time na ganoon pala na nandoon na ako, sana naagahan natin yung pagdetect kay Joanna na ganun na pala katagal ang pagkamatay niya,” Tuballes said in a press conference at the Philippine National Police-Crime Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

(I condole with the family of Joanna. I never wanted that to happen. If you only went to me when I was still there in Iloilo, we could have had found out what happened to Joanna.)

“Pero wala rin kayong ginawang aksyon para puntahan ako. Nakikusap po ako sa inyo patawad po dahil hindi ko naman gusto ang nangyari sa kanya kasi po ako OFW din. Katulong din po ako doon, wala pong may gusto sa nangyari,” she added.

(But you did not approach me. I am begging for your forgiveness. I am sorry. I never wanted that to happen as I was also a domestic helper abroad. Nobody wanted that to happen.)

Tuballes said she felt guilty with what had happened to Demafelis and that she was unable to help her.

Tuballes went to the CIDG on Tuesday to clear her name after she was named in media reports as Demafelis’ recruiter.

According to Tuballes, she only helped Demafelis go abroad legally by referring her to the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc. recruitment agency.

Tuballes admitted that she got a commission of P13,000 for Demafelis’ deployment, which she said is higher than the usual P5,000 commission for every OFW sent abroad.

Tuballes said she coordinated with a certain Ara Midtimbang, a Filipina based in Kuwait, for the processing of documents needed for the deployment of the OFWs.

According to Tuballes, she was paid P10,000 monthly by Midtimbang for recruiting potential OFWs.

Tuballes said that as she was about to leave for Hong Kong as an OFW in 2014, she endorsed Demafelis to Mariz Asanji, an employee of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc.to process her papers.   /muf

READ: Alleged recruiter rejects ‘suspect’ tag in Demafelis slay