Family of OFW executed in Kuwait resents PH Embassy’s lack of action

Inset: Jakatia Pawa. (Photo from Migrante KSA via Radyo Inquirer)

The brother of Jakatia Pawa expressed resentment on Wednesday over the lack of action of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, following the execution of his sister earlier on Wednesday.

“Dapat yung embassy ang magsabi diretso sa amin,” Air Force Col. Angaris Pawa said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer.

He said the news was first relayed to him by Jakatia herself – not the Philippine Embassay – at around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

He pointed out that the embassy had already been informed by Kuwait the day before.

“Yun ang masakit sa amin. Dapat ang embahada sa Kuwait ang tumawag,” he lamented.

(“That’s what was painful for us. It should’ve been the embassy in Kuwait that called us.”)

READ: Family shocked by Jakatia Pawa’s execution in Kuwait – brother

Jakatia Pawa, a domestic helper from Zamboanga del Norte, was sentenced to death in April 2008 for the killing of her employer’s daughter. The Court of Cassation, an appelate court verifying the interpretatio of law, upheld by the verdict in 2013.

Jakatia was executed by hanging at 10:19 a.m. in Kuwait (3:19 p.m. Philippine time).

Her brother added that if the government had paid attention to Jakatia’s case, it would not have taken 11 years.

“Kung tinutukan naman nila yung kaso ng kapatid ko noon, di naman aabot ng 11 years yung kaso ng kapatid ko. Umabot na ng 11 years, nabitay pa,” he said.

(“If they had followed closely my sister’s case, it would not have taken 11 years. But it took 11 years, and yet she was still hanged.”)

Meanwhile, Migrante International, a group protecting the rights of overseas Filipino workers, said that the government failed to provide Jakatia Pawa a lawyer in the early stages of the trial, making an unfavorable verdict possible.

READ: OFW group condemns gov’t failure to stop Jakatia Pawa execution

The group said that the government should be held accountable for this failure. /ATM