Alleged recruiter rejects ‘suspect’ tag in Demafelis slay

Agnes Tuballes (middle), 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 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.

Agnes Tuballes decried insinuations linking her to the unfortunate killing of Demafelis, who was recently found stuffed inside a freezer in Kuwait.

Tuballes has sought the help of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) in a bid to clear her name and protect her family. She asserted that is not an illegal recruiter.

“Lumabas po ako para linawin ang issue, ‘yung iresponsableng news na ako po ay illegal recruiter. Kasi po ang impact po sa akin para akong lumabas na suspect eh. Sana kinuha niyo man lang ‘yung side ko bago niyo ako pinalabas sa TV,” Tuballes said in a press conference at the CIDG headquarters in Camp Crame.

(I surfaced to clear the issue, the irresponsible news imputing that I am an illegal recruiter. It appeared that I was tagged as a suspect. You should have taken my side first before you showed my face on TV.)

“Katulong din po ako, hindi ko ginusto na mamatay si Joanna doon. Never, never kong pinangarap na makadisgrasya ng tao,” she added.

(I am also a domestic helper, I never wanted Joanna to die there. I never, never wanted to harm anyone.)

Tuballes said she was bullied on social media following the airing of the report and caused great damage to her reputation.

“Kaya nga po ngayon, ngayon nasira na po ako, ang trabaho ko apektado, sino ang magpapakain sa dalawa kong anak? Sabihin niyo, sino?”

(Now you have destroyed me, my job has already been affected, who would feed my two children? Tell me who?)

Tuballes said she had only tried to help Demafelis, who asked to find work abroad sometime between December 2013 and January 2014.

Recruitment agency

She then referred Demafelis to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc., an agency where she was paid with commissions for every deployed OFW.

“Ni-refer ko siya sa Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, sabi ko dun ka mag-apply kasi doon free passport, no placement fee, no salary deduction. Iyon po ang chat namin kaya siya napunta doon, nai-recommend ko siya doon kaya siya nakapag-abroad ng free at legal,” Tuballes pointed out.

(I referred her to the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, I told her to apply there because it offers free passport, no placement fee, no salary deduction. That was what we had agreed upon and she was able to go abroad for free and legal.)

Tuballes said the recruitment agency had paid her a commission of P13,000 for the deployment of Demafelis to Kuwait, higher than the usual P5,000-commission.

She explained that she was in coordination with a certain Ara Midtimbang, a Filipina based in Kuwait, who had asked Tuballes to find an agency that could process the papers of OFWs.

Midtimbang, according to Tuballes, had paid her P10,000 monthly for recruiting possible OFWs.                     /kga