INQUIRER Global Nation

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine embassy in Kuwait has confirmed the murder of a Filipina domestic helper in Kuwait and said a suspect has been arrested and charged.

In a statement released Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo M. Endaya reported that “Fatima Sagadan Maulana was found dead in Kabd Desert” on May 16.

The activist overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) group Migrante International immediately demanded justice for Maulana, who it claimed was also raped. It also demanded the Regalado the resignation of Endaya and Labor Attache Leopoldo de Jesus for alleged negligence.

The DFA, however, made no mention of the alleged rape.

It said Maulana, a native of Carmen, Cotabato, was probably murdered on May 9, quoting Kuwaiti police. When found, her body “already in a decomposing state.”

However, the DFA said that, “contrary to reports that appeared earlier in Kuwaiti news media, Kuwaiti police authorities said that the assailant had not burned the victim's body.”

The DFA also said it had engaged the services of a private counsel.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Migrante chair Connie Bragas Regalado said: “We are calling on the Arroyo government to exhaust all legal means necessary so that whoever committed this beastly crime would be brought to justice the soonest.”