RP Embassy in Canada working on repatriation of slain OFW’s body

BAGUIO CITY – Officials of the Philippine Embassy in Canada are working doubly hard to be able to send home soonest the remains of a Mt. Province resident who was found dead in Calgary, Alberta last Friday.

Manuela Peña, director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), said they hope that the body of 40-year-old Arcelie Laoagan, who was reportedly found by subway workers behind a church, will be sent home to Mt. Province soon.

Laoagan was the second migrant worker victimized in Canada in recent months.

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

Another resident of Sagada, Mt. Province, physical therapist Zennia Aguilan, 31, was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan a week ago when Taliban militants stormed a hotel there where she was working as a spa supervisor. Her body was brought home exactly a week after the attack.

Although the OWWA has yet to contact Laoagan’s family, Peña said, “We are proactive and has verified records as well as asked our embassy officials in Canada to (work) double time.”

Peña said records of OWWA and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration show that Laoagan left for abroad on Feb. 27, 2004 as a domestic helper for a two-year contract. 

From then, Peña admitted that the government had 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, he said.

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

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

Peña admitted though that the repatriation of Laoagan’s remains would not be that easy because she died under unusual circumstances. 

“Medyo may konti delay siguro (Perhaps, there is a slight delay),” he said.

“But unlike in Middle Eastern countries, forensic investigation in that country (Canada) is fast, so we expect the repatriation (to be) fast, too,” he added.

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