Duterte Threatened Total Deployment Ban For Entire UAE If OFW Was Executed

Manila, Philippines – President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Tuesday admitted that he had threatened to implement a total deployment ban to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if a Filipino domestic helper who was accused of kilIing her employer be executed.

“‘P— ina bitayin ninyo ‘yan, sabihin ko sa inyo, I will immediately order the suspension of the employment,” the president said in his remarks in a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang.

Total deployment ban for UAE

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III also confirmed the chief executive’s statement, telling everyone in the meeting that he and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac flew to Abu Dhabi to relay to UAE officials Duterte’s sentiments.

“I said, the President respect[s] your justice system. But the President feels that if you hang his countrymen, then he [will] just declare a total deployment ban for the entire United Arab Emirates,” the Labor Secretary said

“So after that, Mr. President, two months after, we learned na kinomute (commute) ‘yung sentence niya of death to only three years. Eh hindi pa nase-serve ‘yung three years, pinalaya na siya eh. Obviously natakot sila doon sa sabi niyo, sir.” Bello added, referring to the overseas worker who was saved from execution.

A Filipina saved from execution

Jennifer Dalquez, a native of General Santos City, was sent back home in the Philippines on November 2 after being spared from death row in the Middle East.

Upon her return, Dalquez and some members of her family met with the president in Malacanang, four days after she arrived in Manila from Abu Dhabi, where she was detained for almost four years. *

A shoulder to cry on

Dalquez, could not help but cry when she hugged the president during their meeting on Tuesday, November 6.

Also present during the meeting were Bello and Cacdac.

In a tweet, Cacdac said the president was a "shoulder to cry on" Dalquez and he also described the Palace meeting as “tearful” and “joyous.”

Dalquez, according to Cacdac, was really thankful for president Duterte’s help in bringing her back home.

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