DFA Condoles with Kin of Two OFWs Who Allegedly Committed Suicide in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

18 June 2018 – The Department of Foreign Affairs today expressed its condolences to the families of two household service workers in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon who were reported to have taken their lives last week.

The DFA, at the same time, said the Philippine Embassies in Beirut and Riyadh are closely coordinating with investigating authorities in both countries to see to it that there was no foul play in the deaths of the two Filipina domestic workers.

“We are deeply saddened by the news that two of our kababayan reportedly decided to take their own lives while working abroad and away from their families,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said in a statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers do to the loved ones they left behind,” Secretary Cayetano added.

The Secretary also assured the families of the two alleged suicide victims that the DFA will extend the necessary assistance to them, including the repatriation of their remains as soon as possible.

In the first incident, the Philippine Embassy in Beirut said a household service worker from Cagayan was reported to have committed suicide by jumping from her employer’s sixth floor apartment in Beirut on 11 June 2018.

In the second incident, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh reported that a household service worker from Agusan del Sur allegedly hanged herself at her employer’s residence in Al Hasa, some 350 kilometers from Riyadh the next day. END