Villanueva calls for ‘more stringent legislations’ to protect OFWs

Saddened by the execution of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Jakatia Pawa in Kuwait, neophyte Senator Joel Villanueva urged the concerned agencies of government on Wednesday to strengthen their policies to prevent another incident in the future.

“This is indeed a sad day for the Filipino people, especially to our OFW community, as we received the news confirming the execution of Pinay OFW Jakatia Pawa in Kuwait at 3:19pm today,” Villanueva, chairman of the Senate committee on labor and human resources development, said in a statement.

“We express our deepest condolences to the family and relatives Ms. Pawa has left behind. It is also our sincerest hope that there would be no more Filipino migrant worker who would suffer the same fate as those OFWs in the past who have been accused and executed in a foreign land,” he said.

The senator then urged the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to strengthen their policies and help Congress craft “more stringent legislations that would protect the welfare of our modern-day heroes.”

At present, Villanueva said, there are 68 death penalty cases being faced by OFWs in several parts of the world.

“It is our continuous call for the concerned government agencies to strictly monitor their cases and prevent another incident like this to happen in the future,” he said.

Pawa, who was accused of killing her employer’s daughter, was executed by hanging this Wednesday afternoon. JE

READ: OFW Jakatia Pawa hanged to death in Kuwait—DFA