Father in Philippines seeks help to find ‘missing daughter’

Dubai: Father of a Filipina expatriate is seeking help from authorities to locate his missing daughter after her pictures were circulated on Facebook saying she had been killed.

Eddie Oliverio, 45, a fisherman based in central Philippines, said he is extremely worried for his eldest daughter, Lenlie, 26, who is working in Dubai.

Oliverio said his neighbours showed him a Facebook post bearing his daughter’s picture and a text that read: “Justice for Lenlie Silpao Oliverio”, followed by a caption that said Lenlie was brutally murdered in Dubai.

“Lenlie was in touch with us on the 12th, 14th, 16th, and until the 17th of February at 8pm. She was constantly chatting with her sister here. On the 18th, there was no reply to any of our messages to her. That was the last we heard from her,” Oliverio told Gulf News in a phone interview from the Philippines.

Oliverio said Lenlie decided to work in Dubai to support her two kids, aged 10 and 5, and help her father, mother and seven siblings. She worked in an office and had been in Dubai for the past four years.

He spoke to his daughter’s ex-boyfriend who said he is currently being detained by Dubai Police. “He said he was being detained in connection with my daughter’s death as part of police investigation. He said my daughter was stabbed multiple times in her flat,” Oliverio said.

A comment from Dubai Police was not available.

Gulf News visited the building where the crime allegedly took place in England Cluster of International City.

Pakistani expatriate Nasser, who owns a salon in the building, confirmed that a woman was found dead there on the February 18. He said he knew the victim, Lenlie, and her Indian boyfriend to be a “good, ordinary couple.”

“They would often visit my salon. She was a very nice girl,” Nasser said.

When Gulf News asked what Lenlie or the victim looked like, Nasser said, “I have her picture,” and then showed the same picture calling for justice for Lenlie that was circulating on social media. “That’s her,” he pointed.

Another Asian shopkeeper confirmed Nasser’s account but declined to give more details saying it’s a police matter.

A Filipina, who works in an office in the same building, told Gulf News: “The Filipina’s body was found but no one knows exactly what happened.”

Filipino migrant rights group Migrante Middle East brought the case to the attention of the Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Section of the Philippine Consulate-General on Sunday after seeing Lenlie’s picture. They have since been in touch with the Oliverio family.

“All we are asking is for our daughter to come home. I am appealing to our government to please help us find our daughter,” Oliverio said.

When contacted, Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes told Gulf News: “We are still waiting for the police report. We cannot speculate.”

Cortes said the ATN Section is in touch with police. In cases where one of their nationals is “involved or is a victim of a crime, it’s the state that prosecutes. We have to rely on the UAE’s procedures pertinent to criminal investigation. The consulate can assist in the repatriation process,” he added.