3 Pinay workers gang-raped in Kuwait in last 10 days

Three migrant Filipina workers, one of them a 17-year-old, were raped in Kuwait in separate incidents over the past 10 days, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported yesterday.

The DFA said the victims were abducted on the streets of the capital Kuwait City.

The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait reported the latest rape victim was kidnapped last Nov. 23. The report said one of the victims was raped three times and that the Kuwaiti police had yet to determine if the rape cases were connected or carried out by the same suspects.

Chargé d’ Affaires Ariz Severino Convalecer of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait said the embassy’s Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) case officer Mustapha Bayanan personally met with and provided assistance to the three rape victims.

Convalecer said medical assistance was provided and an examination was conducted by a Kuwaiti medico-legal officer.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo instructed the Philippine mission in Kuwait and the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) to ensure legal, consular and psychological assistance was being provided to the three victims.

Romulo vowed the DFA would exert all efforts to ensure the prosecution and conviction of the suspects.

"The Department will provide the necessary legal funds to secure a conviction of those responsible for committing this terrible crime on our nationals and will ensure that the victims get the proper counseling and social support in order to overcome the trauma of this incident," Romulo said.

He recalled the DFA had successfully sought the prosecution and imprisonment of three Kuwaiti policemen following the rape of a Filipino domestic helper in November 2003.