BI blacklists Egyptian

An Egyptian national accused of raping a Filipina domestic helper in Kuwait last year has been barred from entering the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.

Acting Immigration Commissioner Arthel Caronongan said the bureau has placed the foreign national, identified as Jamal Al-Hawani, in its blacklist last April 6 upon request of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

It was learned that Acting Assistant Secretary Domingo Lucenario Jr., of the DFA office of consular affairs, sought the blacklisting of Al-Hawani in a letter to the BI last March 15.

In the same letter, Lucenario revealed that a foreign service circular has also already been issued directing various Philippine posts abroad to blacklist the said Egyptian and deny him an entry visa to the Philippines.

In a memorandum sent to the DFA last Feb. 23, Charge d’ Affaires Ricardo Endaya of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait said he tried his best to assist the victim in pursuing her complaint against the Egyptian.

But Endaya lamented that the complaint had very little chance of reaching the court, adding that he was advised by several Kuwaiti lawyers that the case would be only dismissed for lack of evidence.

Endaya also deplored that the victim can no longer substantiate her complaint which she filed last Feb. 23 as the alleged rape took place last November when there were no longer any physical evidence to prove her allegations.

It was only after prolonged negotiations with her former employer, when the Filipina agreed to return to Manila and filed her complaint.

Endaya said he has informed placement agencies accredited by the Philippine government in Kuwait not to allow Al-Hawani to engage the services of Filipina helpers again.