Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Hans Cacdac said Wednesday that 22 overseas FIlipino workers (OFW) in Kuwait died of suicide.
Cacdac said that there have been 196 OFW deaths in Kuwait from 2016 to 2017 – 22 of these are reportedly due to suicide.
However, Cacdac described the deaths as ‘questionable’.
“The 22 cases included questionable deaths or suicides that had been proclaimed by Kuwaiti authorities with no adequate explanation as to why,” Cacdac said.
“What really remains [is] the need for answers. If the conclusion of the Kuwaiti side is suicide, then number one, there would have to be a better explanation as to whether the death was a suicide; and two, if there was a suicide, why did this happen?”
Cacdac also said that they have extended help toward the families of the OFWs who died overseas.
OWWA has previously suspended deployment of OFWs to Kuwait after seven killings of OFWs in the Gulf state were reported last year, however, the discovery of the body of Joanna Demafelis prompted the government to impose total deployment ban to the country.
Since the imposition of the ban, more than 3,000 Filipinos have come home to the Philippines. OWWA is still anticipating at least 2,000 more OFWs in the coming weeks.
