The remains of Dafnie Nacalaban, a 35-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) killed in Kuwait last year, were laid to rest in a cemetery in Sandal Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur on Monday.
Nacalaban’s daughter, whom she had not seen in five years, with her father received her remains on 21 February at Ozamiz City Airport. The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Regional Welfare Offices 9 and 10 facilitated the repatriation.
Efforts to repatriate the OFW’s remains were stalled due to the absence of a marriage certificate. Nacalaban’s wake was held at the home she built from her earnings abroad in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur.
Before working in Kuwait, the late OFW was deployed to Jordan from 2015 to 2017. She later moved to Kuwait in 2019. In October, she told her family she planned to return home in December, hoping to surprise them. However, by late November, they lost contact with her.
Two months later, she was found dead in a decomposed state, buried in a residential area in Saad Al-Abdullah in Jahra, Kuwait following the prime suspect being turned over by his brother to Kuwaiti authorities.
In January, DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac confirmed that the suspect had admitted to the crime and had been taken into custody. However, authorities have yet to provide updates on the suspect’s current status.