Benguet execs ask DFA to find ‘missing OFWs’

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Provincial officials here urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to conduct an investigation to determine the fate of seven Overseas Filipino Workers from this vegetable-producing province who have lost communication with their relatives and whose whereabouts are not known.

Three of the missing OFWs are allegedly working in Syria, the three others in China and the seventh in Dubai.

Another OFW from Itogon town was reported to have been arrested last March 14 in Shanghai, China for unknown reason.

The three OFWs in Syria were identified as Agustina Abarquez of Ucab, Itogon; Kencela Felipe of Tublay and Analyn Magamba of Ampucao, Itogon.

The relatives of the three OFWs said they were recruited by the Malate-based Elbitam agency and had worked as domestic helpers in Damascus.

They said the three have sent messages they were being maltreated physically and emotionally by their employers.

Marlyn Tanglab Inso and Mary Mendoza Gom-o, who hail from Ucab, Itogon, are reportedly locked up in jail in China.

Beray Libag went to Guangzhou, China last March 2 to work at a factory but she has not been heard from since then.

The DFA was also asked to intervene in the case of Felanie Eligado of Tuba, Benguet who is employed as a domestic helper in Dubai. -- Dexter A See