SENATOR PACQUIAO PLEDGES FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO GRIEVING DEMAFELIS FAMILY
By Aquiles Z. Zonio
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 21 Feb 2018
SENATE ? Senator Manny Pacquiao pledges financial assistance to the grieving Demafelis family so they can redeem the land which was mortgaged when their slain family member was applying for work abroad.
The remains of Filipina overseas worker Joanna Demafelis was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Al Shaab district of Kuwait on February 9, about a year after she had gone missing.
In 2014, Joanna left her hometown in Iloilo in search for the proverbial greener pasture abroad.
She ended up working in Kuwait under a Lebanese employer identified as Shariff Faswat Abdoh Ghabriel.
Sen. Pacquiao turned emotional during last Wednesday?s Senate hearing on the miserable plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
The senator from Mindanao urged Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to take concrete actions to ensure the safety and welfare of OFWS especially those who are suffering from abuses by their foreign employers.
?Naging emotional ako kasi labis akong nasaktan dun sa sinapit ni Joanna. Isipin mo isinangla pa ng pamilya ang kanilang lupa makapagtrabaho lang sa ibang bansa si Joanna. Tapos ganun lang yong kahihinatnan. Galing ako sa hirap kaya ramdam ko ang sakit at hirap na pinagdanaan ng pamilya niya,? Sen. Pacquiao said.
Sen. Pacquiao said that by killing Joanna, the abusive Lebanese employer had virtually taken away the hopes of the Demafelis family.
The boxer-lawmaker earlier filed a resolution asking the Senate to investigate the recent deaths of OFWs, hailed as the modern-day heroes of our country.
The neophyte senator pledged to shell out P200,000 from his own pocket just to help the Demafelis family redeem the land that they had mortgaged.
?Sasagutin ko ang mahigit P200,000 na pantubos doon sa lupang isinangla ng Demafelis family. Sa ganitong paraan maibsan man lang ang paghihirap ng pamilya. Sana makatulong ito para makaahon sila sa kahirapan,? Sen. Pacquiao said.
The fighting senator also exhorted Bello not to lift the total deployment ban of OFWs in Kuwait until its government agrees to sign the memorandum of agreement to protect the safety and welfare of our overseas workers there.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Aquiles Z. Zonio.
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