OFW found dead in Kuwait promised kin December homecoming

Overseas Filipino worker Dafnie Nacalaban was supposed to come home from Kuwait to surprise her family.

That was before she went missing for two months and her body was found decomposing in her employer's backyard.

“Tinatanong namin siya kailan talaga uwi niya. Sabi niya, ‘Basta i-surprise ko kayo sa December.’ Ito pala yung surprise niya,” said her sister Michael Nacalaban Lensahan.

(We asked her when she planned to come home. She said, ‘I will surprise you in December.’ It turns out that this was her surprise.)

Michael added that in their last conversation in May 2024, her sister did not share any problems.

“Opo, balak po talaga na itago po [ang insidente]. Ang hiling lang po namin sana makauwi yung kapatid namin tapos mabigyan po ng hustisya kung ano ang talagang nangyari sa kaniya. Bakit po ganun ang ginawa sa kaniya?” she added.

(Yes, they planned on hiding [this incident]. Our only wish is that our sister can come home and that she can be given justice for whatever happened to her. Why did they do that to her?)

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega shared that the suspect’s sibling was the person who reported the incident that led to the discovery of the body.

He also shared that the suspect, who had a previous criminal record, had been already detained.

“Yung kapatid mismo ng suspect sinabihan yung pulis. Ininvestigate nung pulis. Nakita ng pulis sa bahay yung bangkay, advanced state of decomposition, mag da-dalawang buwan na,” he said.

(The sibling of the suspect was the one who informed the police. The police investigated. They saw the body in an advanced state of decomposition for the past two months at the house.)

“We assure the Public that the government will do what it can to seek justice. Malungkot na nangyari ito, katapusan ng taon, (It’s sad that this happened at the end of the year,” he added. —Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/NB, GMA Integrated News