GMA pledges assistance to family of slain OFW

ANGELES CITY — President Arroyo gave assurance yesterday that the government would grant full scholarships to four of the five children and a grandchild of overseas worker Feliciano Dizon, one of three Filipinos killed in an attack by suspected al-Qaeda members in Saudi Arabia last May 29.

Mrs. Arroyo paid Dizon’s family a visit at the residence of his parents-in-law Ricardo and Angustia Pineda at Marisol Village here past noon yesterday.

The President met Dizon’s 86-year-old widowed mother Ro-senda, his children and two sisters.

She earlier turned over to Dizon’s children at Malacañang some P270,000 in benefits from the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Mrs. Arroyo assured Dizon’s eldest son, Ricardo, 21, of full scholarships for his siblings Jeremy, 15; Rose Ann, 12; Catherine, 6; and Jacob, 2, up to college under the government’s Iskolar Bawa’t Pamilya program.

She told her staff to check whether Ricardo’s two-year-old son Jaymer can be included in the program. Ricardo has finished college and is now working as an insurance agent.

The President stayed with the Dizon family for about half an hour. She asked Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, who was present, to provide medical attention to Dizon’s sister Lerma Dizon-Manalo, 57, who is suffering from a brain ailment, and to get her a stall in the city public market.

Dizon’s remains were expected to arrive yesterday. Accompanying his body were his wife Amalia and child Catherine who were vacationing in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia when the attack happened.