Kin of slain OFW in Kuwait seek justice

ANGADANAN, ISABELA, Philippines — A Filipino migrant worker was declared dead on arrival on May 15 at a Kuwait hospital where she was taken after what appeared to be a beating and sexual assault a day before she was to go home here on May 16.

But the remains of Constancia Lago Dayag, 47, a resident of this interior Isabela town, may not yet be returned home pending an ongoing investigation into her death, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said here on Friday.

A widow with three children, Dayag had been working in Kuwait since 2015.

“She was widowed 14 years ago when my son, a driver, died after an accident. Needing to send her children to school, Connie went abroad,”  said her mother-in-law, Marvelita Dayag, 71.

Swollen face

She said Dayag had not complained about being abused by her employer, but her eldest son, Billy Jake, 27, once noticed that a part of her face was swollen in a video conference months ago.

But Dayag shrugged it off, claiming that her negligence caused the bruising, said Marvelita.

Dayag’s daughter, Lovely Jane, 23, said her mother had revealed being subjected to harsh treatment by her employer, but Dayag had assured her she could handle it.

Billy Jake has his own family. Lovely Jane works as an accountant in Makati City, while youngest sibling, Eugenio Jr., 14, is in Grade 8.

Lovely Jane told Bello that she expected to meet her mother at the airport on May 16 but she failed to contact her or her employer a day before her scheduled flight.

She said she last spoke with her mother on May 6.

She learned about her mother’s death when an aunt, Violy Lago-Cagabi of Gamu town, called her after meeting with a team sent by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Violation of agreement

Bello said Dayag’s employer, who has not been identified, had violated an agreement where Kuwaiti employers guarantee the well-being of Filipino overseas workers.

He said Dayag’s children would be given legal and financial assistance.

He also directed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Philippine overseas labor office in Kuwait to locate the foreign and local agencies that hired Dayag to work in that country.