Autopsies to be Conducted to Rule Out Foul Play in Reported Suicides of Two Domestic Workers in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia
21 June 2018 – The Department of Foreign Affairs today said autopsies will be conducted to rule out foul play in the reported suicides of two Filipino household service workers in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the DFA said the Philippine Embassies in Beirut and Riyadh are coordinating closely with investigating authorities to ensure that there was no foul play in the deaths of the two Filipino workers.
“We know their loved ones are asking why our two kababayan would even think of taking their own lives and we assure them that our embassies in Beirut and Riyadh will try to get those answers for them before we bring them home,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said.
The Secretary said he has been informed by the Philippine Embassy in Beirut that it has already requested an autopsy on the remains of the household service worker who supposedly jumped from her employer’s sixth floor apartment on 11 June.
In her report, Ambassador Bernardita Catalla informed Secretary Cayetano that the autopsy will be conducted by a court-appointed forensic doctor at the St. George Hospital on Friday.
Ambassador Catalla said she was assured by the doctor that he will conduct a very thorough investigation to see if there is evidence to support the possibility that foul play was involved in the death of the 35-year-old mother of three from Cagayan Province who came to Lebanon only in October.
In its report to the Secretary, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh said it is waiting for the results of the investigation and autopsy on another household service worker who was earlier reported to have killed herself.
Ambassador Adnan Alonto said authorities will conduct an autopsy next week on the remains of the 40-year-old mother of two from Agusan del Sur who allegedly hanged herself with an electric cord at her employer’s residence in Al Hasa, outside Riyadh.
Ambassador Adnan Alonto said the victim has been working for her employer for the past three years. END