The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has suspended the recruiter of slain overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Jullebee Ranara, whose burned body was found on Sunday in the desert in Kuwait.
Meanwhile, the DMW mulls a review of the bilateral labor agreement (BLA) between the Philippines and Kuwait following the murder of Ranara by a son of her employer. In a press briefing, DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said Ranara’s recruiter could not hire OFWs while under preventive suspension.
“The preventive suspension will later on lead to a blacklisting upon the termination of the proceedings,” Olalia added.
However, he did not identify Ranara’s recruiter.
The DMW is also set to file cases against the recruitment agencies of Ranara.
“After examination of the facts involved, by next week, there will be a recruitment violation case that will be filed against the PRA (Philippine recruitment agency) and the FRA (foreign recruitment agency) involved,” Olalia said.
“The directive of Secretary Toots (Susan) Ople (is) that it is time to revisit or review the labor agreement to further strengthen the protection of OFWs,” DMW Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said during the Saturday News Forum at a restaurant in Quezon City.
The BLA was signed by the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments in 2018.
Cacdac disclosed they would also look into recruitment standards to ensure that only agencies with good track records could employ Filipino workers.
He said the National Bureau of Investigation would conduct an autopsy on Ranara’s body that arrived in Manila from Kuwait on Friday night.
The burned body of 35-year-old Ranara was found abandoned in the middle of a desert.
The 17-year-old suspect is under police custody.
Cacdac said that Kuwaiti authorities are constantly coordinating with the Philippine embassy on the progress of the case.
“The case is now under a prosecutor and we are awaiting official findings,” he said.
