Filipina caregiver's body to arrive in Manila With no help from RP Gov`t
A Filipina caregiver`s remains is soon to arrive in Manila on Jan. 14 without the help of the Philippine government.
Migrante-Alberta insists that it is the responsibility of the Philippine government to assist Filipinos in and out of the Philippines, dead or alive. Thus, the migrant group believes it should help in the repatriation of a Filipina caregiver`s remains and provide assistance to her two children.
``The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should help repatriate Merlinda Agus` remains back to her family through the agency`s repatriation fund, without any alibi,`` said Migrante Alberta coordinator in Edmonton Gina Martirez Doblado after the Philippine officials in Canada refused to assist in the repatriation of Agus’ remains. She cited the case of slain caregiver Jocelyn Dulnuan in Ontario which the DFA, upon pressure from migrant groups, helped repatriate in October 2007.
Agus, a 49 year-old nanny in Haddow Drive, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, collapsed on Jan. 3 at a retail store where she was sending money to her family in Cabangcalan, Negros Occidental, a western Philippine province south of Manila. She was sent to the University of Alberta Hospital and was diagnosed with brain aneurysm, a condition where blood vessels going to the brain bulge and rupture.
Maria Cristina Mangulabnan, a fellow nanny, said that Agus was already in a state of comatose when she and some friends arrived at the hospital. Agus succumbed to death past 11 p.m. of the same day after her family in the Philippines, in a phone conversation with the doctor, decided that the respirator supporting Agus’s life could already be removed.
Mangulabnan also said that Philippine representatives in Canada refused to provide assistance for Agus’ repatriation. On January 5, Agus’ case was brought to the attention of Philippine embassy in Vancouver by her third employer. The employer was referred to the local consulate based in Edmonton. But Agus’ employer was told that since her benefit membership with the [Philippine] government was expired, it is now the employer’s responsibility to send her body to the Philippines. Mangulabnan and fellow nannies sought the help of Migrante Alberta, a non-profit group for Filipino migrants, in exposing the Philippine representatives’neglect of OFWs in need.
Repatriation is one of the services overseas Filipino workers subscribe to through a membership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). A $25.00 (US) is paid upon processing of contract and repaid when a new contract is entered into by a Filipino overseas worker.
“Agus worked as a domestic helper in Taiwan before going to Canada. Like her, to the surprise of her fellow nannies, none of them is an OWWA member because they were not informed about this when they moved working to Canada,” said Doblado. “The OFWs have been kept uninformed, and now, in the case of Agus, victim of the Philippine officials’ negligence!”
Present and previous employers and the Agbuloy Christian ministry contributed to cover the cost of repatriation of Agus’ remains that amounts to CAD $7,800. Agus’ friends also solicited from their employers and fellow nannies.
“This is an insult to her and to many overseas Filipino workers who are doing service to our country through our remittances,” Mangulabnan said, lambasting the inaction by the Edmonton consulate official Esmeralda Agbulos.
“Our group also demands that assistance to Agus’ family in Negros should be provided by the government,” Doblado said. “Even if we pay our OWWA membership, we actually get nothing in return in times we most needed it. They have refused to help the dead OFW, and now they will do the same to her children, saying that her OWWA membership already lapsed for her family to avail such benefits.”
”We have been sacrificing for the Philippine economy and yet we still get this kind of disservice,” said Doblado. Canada has been among the top 5 source countries of dollar remittances in the past few years. Of the more than US$16 B total remittances in 2008, more than US$1B was from Canada.
“With or without membership or any form of payment, OFWs and families deserve the assistance they needed, anytime, anywhere and from anyone in the government,” ended Doblado. #
Migrante –Alberta
Press Release
Jan. 11, 2010
Reference:
Gina Martirez Doblado, 780-2245456
migrantealberta@yahoo.com
aubreymakilan@gmail.com
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