Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, Oct. 4, filed a resolution urging a Senate committee to investigate the death of an 32-year-old Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) based in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Under Senate Resolution No. (SRN) 817, Hontiveros said a Senate inquiry "must conducted to bring justice" to the family of the OFW identified as Marjorette Garcia, who was allegedly stabbed to death.
"In the recent years, there have been several incidents of overseas Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) facing abuse and maltreatment in the Middle East, who never made it back to the country alive to return to their families," she said.
The Senator cited the cases of two OFWs, Constancia Dayag and Jullibee Ranara, who greatly suffered at the hands of their foreign employers in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
Hontiveros said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's (OWWA) record showed that 75 percent of the 23,986 cases of abuse in 2021 were done against women OFWs.
"There must be strong mechanisms to provide comprehensive assistance and sustainable protection to OFWs, particularly women migrant workers, throughout the whole process from recruitment to reparation," she stressed.
On Monday, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) confirmed the death of Garcia and said it is working closely with the Migrant Workers Office in Al-Khobar Saudi Arabia (MWO-Al Khobar) and OWWA on the investigation.
The agency said the remains of Garcia will be repatriated to the country as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Asec. Paul Cortes said that the suspect behind the murder was arrested.
"Itong suspect ay hindi Pinoy, ibang lahi po siya. Hindi employer ito ang pumaslang sa ating kababayan at as far as we know, kakilala ito o co-worker. We are waiting for the investigation para klaro ang mabalita natin," he said during a press briefing.
