Statement of Senator Joel Villanueva on the execution of OFW Jakatia Pawa

This is indeed a sad day for the Filipino people, especially to our OFW community, as we received the news confirming the execution of Pinay OFW Jakatia Pawa in Kuwait at 3:19pm today.

We express our deepest condolences to the family and relatives Ms. Pawa has left behind. It is also our sincerest hope that there would be no more Filipino migrant worker who would suffer the same fate as those OFWs in the past who have been accused and executed in a foreign land.

In line with this, we continually urge the DFA and OWWA to strengthen their policies and help us craft more stringent legislations that would protect the welfare of our modern-day heroes.

At present, there are 68 death penalty cases being faced by our OFWs in several parts of the world. It is our continuous call for the concerned government agencies to strictly monitor their cases and prevent another incident like this to happen in the future.

Our OFWs have brought so much pride to our country and they deserve nothing less than assurance from the Philippine government that their rights are being protected and fought for.