RP embassy working on repatriation of slain OFW’s body

BAGUIO CITY – Philippine Embassy officials in Canada are working to send home soonest the remains of 40-year-old Arcelie Laoagan who was found dead in Calgary, Alberta on Jan. 25.

Manuela Pena, director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration told newsmen Laoagan was found dead by subway workers behind a church. Laoagan was the second migrant worker victimized in Canada in recent months.

Last Oct. 1, Ifugao native Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27, was murdered in a posh neighborhood in Mississauga City. Police arrested two Latin American immigrants for the murder.

Physical therapist Zennia Aguilan, 31, of Sagada, Mountain Province was also killed in Kabul, Afganistan a week ago when Taliban militants bombed a hotel there where she was working as a spa supervisor.

Her body was brought home a week after the attack.

The OWWA has yet to contact Laoagan’s family as of press time. Pena said records of OWWA and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed Laoagan left for abroad on Feb. 27, 2004 as a domestic helper for a two-year contract.

Pena said the government lost track of her after her contract ended.

“Laoagan might have been directly hired in Canada or her host country might have registered her as an overseas worker, thus posing a problem,” she said.

If Laoagan was an OWWA member, her family could avail of a P220,000 insurance.

But still, even if she wasn’t qualified, Pena said the government would still extend assistance to her family as it has been doing with all OFWs.

The repatriation of Laoagan’s remains, Pean said, would not be that easy because she died under unusual circumstances.

“Medyo may konti delay siguro (Perhaps, there is a slight delay),” she said. “But unlike in Middle Eastern countries, forensic investigation in the country (Canada) is fast, so we expect the repatriation to be fast.”

Pena said Laoagan’s employer in Canada had been cooperative, as in Aguilan’s European employer who even spent for the repatriation of her remains.