TANUDAN, Kalinga – Mayor Jaedick Rhoss P. Dagadag joined the family of an overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from the municipality in seeking justice for her untimely death after her lifeless body was found in a beach at Pier, Hong Kong.
He called on the Department of Migrant workers (DMW) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to immediately coordinate with Hong Kong authorities to look into the victim’s cause of death to erase doubts on her untimely demise.
The local chief executive stated that the victim’s family and the local government deserve to be updated on the latest breakthrough on the investigation on the circumstances surrounding her death and that if there was foul play in the said incident.
The mayor added that the victim’s family from the municipality were surprised by the earlier report of her death as they thought that the OFW is doing well in her work in the foreign land.
Earlier, Hong Kong authorities are looking into the “decomposing body” of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was found floating near a pier in the special Chinese administrative region earlier this week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.
Relatives of the OFW, a household helper, asked authorities to keep the incident “a little private,” DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Raymond Cortez informed the media recently.
Joggers first saw the rotting corpse on July 13, the DFA official said.
The Philippine government has “full trust” that investigations related to the incident are “detailed and not jeopardized.”
The OFW’s remains will be transported back to the Philippines as soon as the case is closed and a death certificate has been issued in Hong Kong.
The OFW had been reported by her employer to the police as having gone missing for a number of days after going on a day off from her work.
However, her employer was surprised to learn that the discovered decomposing body of an individual who was found floating in a beach was the missing OFW, thus, the request for the conduct of an in-depth investigation to ascertain the cause of her death.
The dead OFW hails from this municipality and that she had been working on the foreign land for a number of years to date.
DMW officials assured that the victim’s family will be receiving the appropriate assistance, including the repatriation of her body once the case has already been closed by the Hong Kong authorities.
At present, concerned government agencies are closely monitoring the latest developments on the case of the OFW to ensure that the victim’s family will also be updated on how the investigation is being conducted.
For the local government, Dagadag said that the municipal government will look into how the concerned offices will also be able to provide whatever allowable assistance that will be extended to her family while waiting for her body to be repatriated to the country and brought to her hometown.
