JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II on Monday directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct an investigation to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against the local recruitment agency of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer at an abandoned apartment in Kuwait City early this month.
“The NBI, through Director Dante, Gierran is hereby directed and granted authority to conduct investigation and case buildup the possible liabilities of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Global E-Human Resources Inc. in relation to the death of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis and, if evidence so warrants, to file appropriate cases thereon,” Aguirre said in his Department Order 102.
Aguirre also directed NBI Director Dante Gierran to furnish his office with its activities related to the implementation of his directive.
Earlier, President Duterte directed the NBI to look for the local recruiters of Demafelis following the arrest of her employers, Nader Essam Assaf and his Syrian wife, Mona Hassoun, by Syrian authorities.
The two are now considered suspects for the death of the 29-year overseas Filipino worker.
Demafelis was recruited by Mt. Carmel, which was shut down in 2016.
The foreign recruitment agency of Demafelis listed as Fadilah Farz Kaued Al Khodor Recruitment Office is currently under the watch list of the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration because of a pending case. Demafelis’s family said they went to the recruitment agency who sent her to Kuwait after they lost contact with her in 2016, only find out that it had been shut down due to recruitment violations.