Kuwait: More than 114 Filipino maids in Kuwait left the country after the brutal killing of domestic worker Jullebee Ranara, local media reported.
35-year-old Jullebee Ranara, was killed in January 2023 by the 17-year-old son of her employer who reportedly raped and burnt her.
Jullebee Ranara, was found abandoned in a desert on Saturday, January 21.
Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior confirmed the arrest of the accused on Sunday, January 22, less than 24 hours after her body was found on Al Salmi road.
An autopsy showed that the woman was pregnant at the time of her death, according to Al-Rai newspaper.
According to the Associated Press, Philippine Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said Jullebee Ranara’s body was brought back to the country from Kuwait on Friday night, January 27.
On Wednesday, February 1, the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Majlis, said, “Within 4 days, 114 Filipino domestic workers left Kuwait, after the body of the worker, Ranara, returned to the Philippines, last Friday.”
In the context, Al Rai confirmed, on Monday, January 30, that 34 Filipino workers had travelled from Kuwait to return to their country, to join the 80 workers who had travelled before them, on January 27.
After the killing of Ranara, the Office of Filipino Migrant Workers in Kuwait suspended the accreditation of new recruitment agencies in the Gulf country.
The workers’ departure came after the Philippine government announced, on Sunday, January 29, that it would open an investigation into allegations of rape and mistreatment of Filipino workers in Kuwait.
This investigation is not the first of its kind, as previously in 2018 and 2020, Manila announced a ban on sending workers to Kuwait after two maids were killed in their workplace.
The number of Filipino workers in Kuwait is about 268,0000 workers, and the killing of the maid is the latest tragedy for Filipino workers abroad, as about a tenth of the estimated population of more than 110 million people left due to unemployment and poverty, as they work or live in more than 200 countries to support their families in country.
