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Ople on Ranara: ‘I grieve for you. Justice will prevail’

by Izel Abanilla

PUBLISHED ON January 29, 2023

Migrant Workers Secretary Susana “Toots” Ople swore justice will be served for 35-year old Jullebee Ranara.

Ople personally offered her condolences to Ranara’s family on the first day of OFW’s wake at her home in Casimiro, Las Piñas City.

In a tweet, Ople said, “I grieve for you. Justice will prevail.”

Taking from the photos, Ranara’s coffin was open but her body was covered with a white cloth.

NBI autopsy

The wake ensued immediately after an autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation, according to the report by GMA News’ 24Oras.

NBI forensic experts examined Ranara’s external and internal injuries to determine the circumstances that led to her death, reporter John Consulta said.

The family requested for an autopsy to find out what exactly happened to Ranara.

The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait said they have not received any official report yet from the Kuwaiti authorities on the result of investigation or autopsy findings.

Arrival of Ranara’s remains

Ranara’s remains arrived Friday, January 27, at around 9:30 pm.

Her family including her husband, siblings and cousins could not contain their emotions upon seeing the box being unloaded from the cargo area.

“It was really heart-breaking. The husband and the siblings broke down as expected upon seeing the state of Jullebee’s body,” Ople said.

What happened to Ranara

The death of Ranara sent shockwaves not only to the country but also to the Arab community following news that her gruesome murder was perpetuated by the 17-year-old son of her employer.

Initial reports also alleged that Ranara was raped and impregnated by her minor assailant before she was burned and abandoned at a desert in Kuwait.

“The body, if I may describe it was intact, there were signs of it being burned, the family was requested to identify and confirm that it was Jullebee and they did so,” Ople said.

Fact-finding mission

The DMW will deploy a fact-finding team to Kuwait to assess the performance of its overseas labor authorities, review pending welfare cases and find ways and means to address distress calls in the Middle Eastern country.

DMW Undersecretary Hans Cacdac will lead the fact-finding mission.

“The task at hand is a directive from the secretary to send a fact-finding team to Kuwait to ascertain the welfare cases there and to find ways and means to address these welfare cases either by filing cases in Kuwait if need be or filing cases in labor tribunals and authorities there and of course to facilitate at the appropriate time the safe repatriation of our distressed workers so they can receive the proper benefits and treatment when they return home,” Cacdac said.

The team will also do an assessment of the overall performance and structure of the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) formerly known as Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait.

Order of business

Among the parameters of the mission is to look into the volume of distressed OFW welfare cases in the last five years, cause of the rise in numbers and the response of both the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments. The participation of Foreign Recruitment Agencies (FRA’s) in the welfare of their workers and screening of their employers will also be studied.

“Titingnan nila bakit inordinately high yung mga welfare cases natin sa Kuwait over the past several months. Titingnan din kung nagkaroon ba ng lapses on the part of the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) sa pagtugon sa mga panawagan for welfare assistance among our OFWs. Yung report ng fact-finding mission will be submitted to my office for appropriate action,” Ople said.

Furthermore, Ople said Senator Raffy Tulfo has requested the department to look into alternative markets for Filipino domestic workers. The secretary said a need for a list of countries accepting Filipino house help service needs to be published to educate the workers and their family of how and where they can call for help should anything happen.

“The reason why such a list needs to be put together is for the guidance of our workers, the guidance of the family of these workers,” she said.

“Para ‘yung mga nangangarap o mga talagang gustong-gusto na makapag trabaho abroad bilang kasambahay makikita nila doon sa listahan alin ‘yung mga bansa na mas kaunti ang welfare cases at maayos naman ‘yung sweldo at may access sa komunikasyon at iba pang mga civil liberties,” she said.

Assistance to the family

As member of OWWA, Ranara’s family will receive death benefit worth Php 220,000.

Ignacio said OWWa is also arranging the scholarship for her children.

“Inuna na po natin ‘yung panganay then ‘yun pong natitirang tatlo nilang anak,” he said.

“We’ll submit them to our Board of Trustees for them to have and enjoy the benefits of education support mula ngayon hanggang sa grumaduate sila,” he said.