No government money for repatriation of OFW

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- It is disgusting that the Philippine government has not released any monetary support for the repatriation of the body of deceased OFW- English teacher Benjamin Yango based in Harbin, China.

Benjamin Yango died sometime around May 18-20, 2010 after the Police found him dead in his apartment on May 21. Yango traces his roots from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Benguet; He is married to Fely Tomino of Kabayan, Benguet.

Based on email exchanges, Benjamin’s widow has not received favorable response from China-based Philippine Embassy Consul Pablito Mendoza for any financial assistance from the government. Mendoza instead encouraged Benjamin’s widow and other Cordillerans based in China to solicit for the repatriation cost of the body which has reached RMB86, 000 (PhP 584,800).

How could the government be insensitive to the pains and sacrifices of its very own citizens away from their families and not provide any monetary support to the OFW-remittance sender in this case. It is absurd considering that migrant workers provide a big bulk of income for the country’s ailing economy.

Migrant workers numbering around 11 million provides around 13.5% of the country’s GDP. OFWs often work as caregivers, domestic helpers, factory workers, nurses, IT technicians and programmers, engineers, entertainers, technicians, teachers, and seafarers in developed countries most especially in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, and other developed countries of Asia including Hongkong, Malaysia and Singapore.

For last year’s remittances, OFWs sent $17.348 billion. The amount of $15.9 billion worth of remittances was sent by migrant workers to the Philippines in 2008, up from the $14.4 billion in 2007 and $13 billion in 2006.

Such a staggering amount of money which equally commands support for migrant workers rights and welfare when they need monetary assistance from the government.

In cases of repatriation of human remains, OWWA is obliged to provide monetary support for ‘human remains’ to be sent home, and the DFA through its Philippine embassies as well is bound to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers. Such welfare covers cases on repatriation, I think so.

Much as migrant workers provide income for the country’s economy through remittances, they have been sent through the offices of the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) to work in other countries, making the Philippine government accountable for its OFW-citizens.

Whether one is registered or not with the POEA/OWWA however is no issue for a migrant worker to be given support. It is clear that a migrant worker deserves to be given support from the government considering her/him to be a citizen of the country; and who sends remittances to the country whether he/she is registered or not. Besides, the DFA and the OWWA in its avowed services for migrant workers does not differentiate whether one is registered or not, I would like to think so.

This gets us back to the case of caregiver Jocelyn Dulnuan from Ifugao who was murdered in Canada in 2007. The government refused to give her any repatriation cost saying that she was an unregistered migrant worker. This led however to an uproar which eventually led to the giving of $5,000 from the Philippine government and another $5,000 from Canadian authorities. An uproar needed for the government to provide its services? Absurd! This government needs to replace insensitive and inutile employees.