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Migrante, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ organizations
based in different countries, is asking the Department of Foreign
Affairs to investigate several deaths of overseas Filipino workers.
The latest of these is the alleged heart attack
of an OFW in Jeddah on March 11, that it charged the Consulate
General has not yet investigated.
“We condemn the Philippine Consulate General
in Jeddah for refusing the plea of concerned OFWs and fellow workers
to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of OFW
Domingo Hidalgo,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante regional
coordinator.
Hidalgo’s remains are being kept at the Rabigh
General Hospital for a month now.
“We are calling the Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and OWWA
(Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) to arrange to send a team
that will conduct a thorough on-site investigation on the death of
OFW Domingo Hidalgo and to immediately arrange the repatriation of
his remains,” said Migrante-Middle East in a statement.
“Congen (Jeddah Consul General Ezzedin) Tago
and the rest of his staff should be recalled as this is the nth time
where cases of OFW deaths have been (ignored) by the PCG, so that
they should be investigated too and be made accountable for their
(negligent) attitude towards OFWs in distress and (who have) ran
away,” Migrante added.
Reports received by Migrante’s Jeddah chapter
said that Higaldo could have died of a cardiac arrest after he did
not get prompt attention in a clinic.
Higaldo was working as a painter for
Aramco-Petro Rabigh under the Contractor A.A. Turki Corporation (ATCO).
He came from Olongapo City, had two children, but separated from his
wife.
In Japan, migrant Filipinos have also asked for
investigations of murder and attempted murder involving Filipino
women.
On April 4, Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, a
22-year-old Filipina, was murdered. On March 17, Crisanta Lopez and
her seven-month old baby were murdered by her Japanese husband.
In another instance, a woman simply called
“Rose” was left almost burned to death on November 18, 2007 by a
former live-in partner who also fathered two of her three minor
children. She survived the attack, but has to remain in the hospital
for her wounds to heal and for her to undergo a series of
reconstructive surgeries.
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