OWWA assumes $12K repatriation cost for OFW body

QUEZON CITY - Finally, the month-old frozen body of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Benjamin Yango, English teacher in Harbin, China was flown to the Philippines on June 23, 2010.

This, as Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration (OWWA) Chief of Advocacy and Information Division, Overseas Operations Coordinating Service Director Ed Bellido, speaking in behalf of OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon, said that “OWWA shall assume the repatriation cost in the amount of US$12,260.00.”

Bellido added that Yango, as an active OWWA member at the time of his death, is also entitled to P120,000.00 representing death and burial benefits from the government agency.

Benjamin Yango, 33, was found dead in his apartment on May 21, 2010. He is believed to have died of heart attack 2 or 3 days before he was found by the Police. There was no autopsy done on his body. It was learned that Benjamin’s wife, Fely Yango, decided to forgo autopsy of the body to prevent further delay of the body’s repatriation.

Yango’s remains was finally flown home to Baguio after a month of processing repatriation papers and sourcing funds to answer excessive repatriation costs which ballooned up RMB 86,000 or PhP596,000.00. This led friends, relatives, and kaliyans of Yango to solicit from friends and kailyans worldwide to defray the repatriation cost.

An online petition signed by nearly 200 signatories worldwide also called on the Philippine government particularly OWWA, the Philippine Embassy in China and the Undersecretary on Migrant Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in the Philippines to provide monetary assistance for the repatriation of the body.

It was learned that DFA’s undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos Jr said that the costs and procedural work for the repatriation of a deceased Filipino worker is the responsibility of either the worker’s employer or recruitment agency. Yango did not go through a recruitment process.

It was learned that Yango’s employer paid the equivalent of P14,600 for the cost of freezing of the body for 23 days.

Yango traces his roots from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Benguet./by Gina Dizon

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Letter-appeal petitioning the Philippine Government to Immediately Expedite Repatriation of Deceased OFW Benjamin Yango

Letter-Appeal Petitioning Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Embassy to immediately Expedite Release of Financial Assistance for the Repatriation of the Body of Deceased Migrant Worker Benjamin Galap Yango from China to the Philippines

To:
HON. PABLITO MENDOZA
Consul, Philippine Embassy
China

Hon. JOSE S. BRILLANTES
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs
Department of Foreign AffairsPhilippines

Hon. CARMELITA S. DIMZON
Administrator, OWWA
Philippines

Hon. MARIANITO ROQUE
Labor SecretaryPhilippines

Sirs/Madam;

In pursuit of protecting the rights of overseas migrant workers who continue to provide millions of remittances to the coffers of the government, respectfully asking your immediate action for the release of financial assistance to expedite release of the body of migrant worker, Benjamin Galap Yango, currently lying in a morgue at Harbin, China,to enable repatriation as soon as possible to the deceased’s hometown in Bontoc, Mountain Province.

Benjamin G. Yango, 33, believed to have died of heart attack 2 or 3 days prior to May 21, 2010 when the Police found him dead in his apartment, has no autopsy and investigation done yet on the body.

Benjamin Galap Yango traces his roots from Bontoc, Mountain Province and Benguet. He is married to Fely Tomino of Kabayan, Benguet and blessed with two children. He is an English teacher at Longdi Primary School in A'cheng, Harbin, China since 2007 to the present when he met his death.

As of now, repatriation fees reportedly cost RMB 86,000 (PhP 584,800) and cost getting higher as the body remains in the morgue.
Concerned government agencies including the Philippine Embassy in China have been repeatedly asked by Benjamin Yango's widow for said agency to provide and/or facilitate monetary assistance to enable repatriation of the body to the Philippines, only to be met by a negative response.

Considering the above, we strongly reiterate prior requests and ask concerned offices to provide the necessary monetary assistance to immediately enable the body of the deceased to be flown to his hometown as soon as possible.

Especially, we call on OWWA to provide and/or facilitate financial assistance for the human remains of Benjamin Yango to be repatriated to Philippine soil as part of its responsibility and duty to provide services for migrant workers.

We also reiterate one of the objectives of the Philippine Embassy “to protect the rights and promote the welfare of Filipinos overseas workers…” and its mission be implemented in a substantial manner to be of concrete service to our brother and sister migrant workers and their families who continue to provide a big part of the economic backbone of the country.

It is therefore urgently requested that the Philippine Embassy, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in their respective capacities fast track the release of monetary assistance which the Philippine government should provide as part of its obligation and duty to protect and support the rights and welfare of migrant workers and their families.

We likewise support Benguet Province Governor Nestor Fongwan in asking the DFA to ask the Philippine Embassy in China to assist in the repatriation of the body as soon as possible.

We likewise urge Mountain Province Governor Maximo Dalog in his respective effort to do the appropriate action for the immediate release of the body of Benjamin Yango in order that the body be flown home as soon as possible.

In the same vein, we urge the concerned offices—OWWA, DFA and the Philippine Embassy in China - to intervene/ask/urge Ms. Wang Ying, the school owner-employer of Benjamin Yango to provide the corresponding financial assistance for Benjamin Yango as his employee of the latter’s untimely death.
Your attention is much appreciated.

Sincerely,

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/benjaminyango/signatures

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