Philippines: Suspect in Filipina's freezer death arrested

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine foreign secretary says one of two suspects in the gruesome death of a Filipina housemaid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in an apartment in Kuwait has been arrested in Lebanon.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement Friday that he has informed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte about the arrest of Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf, but added the latter's Syrian wife, also a suspect, remains at large.

The discovery of Joanna Demafelis's body on Feb. 6 in the freezer in Kuwait City, where it had reportedly been kept for more than a year, has refocused attention on the tragic plight of poor Filipinos toiling abroad and prompted Duterte to ban the deployment of new Filipino workers to Kuwait, where many abuses have been reported.