Cebuano OFW’s family doubts it was suicide

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

GLEN Garcia left to work as a waiter in Malaysia last year after learning that his wife would give birth to twins. He wanted to be able to give them a good life.

Today, the one-year-old twins will see their father for the first time when he arrives in a casket, a month before he would have turned 29.

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Glen reportedly leaped from the window of his room on the eighth floor of an apartment building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Sunday night, but his wife Donna Lili refuses to believe it.

Their family suspects there is foul play, so they asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) 7 to investigate Glen’s death.

Donna said that since last week, Glen has been acting strange during their online chat and in their phone conversations, hinting that somebody is controlling him.

“Nahibung ko na pag Saturday, diri nya gitype sa akong email na murag nangayo siya ug tabang. Ang iyang sulti kay ‘Pre, pasayloa ko ninyo… Paulia intawn ko ninyo na buhi.’

Ang akong tan-aw murag nay naghulga niya, murag kontrolado nila si Glen (It was strange that last Saturday, he sent me an email apparently meant for someone else, whose help he asked. He wrote, ‘Pre, forgive me. Please let me go home alive.’ I think someone must have been threatening Glen),” she told Sun.Star Cebu.

Donna believes that Glen’s Filipino roommates know the circumstances surrounding his death, and said the DFA should investigate them.

The Provincial Government also wrote the DFA, inquiring about the Cebuano overseas worker’s death in Malaysia.

Glen’s wife met with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday in her office and said she can’t believe her husband committed suicide. The governor told the Provincial Social Welfare Office to give assistance to the family Glen left behind.

Glen’s wife, Donna, said that the last time they chatted at 4:32 p.m. last Sunday, just five hours before Glen’s body was found on the pavement, one of the roommates reportedly cut off their chat and took Glen’s laptop.

Donna, 30, said that her husband would usually talk a lot on the phone and in their chat, and would talk to their children through the laptop camera, but when the roommates were around, he would cut short the conversation.

On several occasions, he told her of his intention to come home for good.

She admitted that they had problems at one point after Glen confessed an extra-marital
affair, but she has already forgiven him and they have patched things up.

Sensing that Glen had serious problems, Donna’s relatives in Malaysia visited him in his apartment last Sunday. 

But when they got there, one of the roommates told them Glen wasn’t there. They found
that hard to believe, because they had just spoken with him, she said.

“Unya igo ra sila nitalikod, gitawagan daw sila nga naabot na si Glen unya pagbalik nila, mao na to, ang lawas na ilang nakitan (They had just left the apartment when someone called them to say Glen had arrived, but when they got there, all they found was his body),” Donna said in an interview yesterday.

“Giingnan sila na natagak daw pero dili mi mutuo, mao ng niadto mi sa DFA. Ang among gusto is matagaan ug hustisya ang kamatayon sa akong bana, na imbistigahan nila ang mga kauban niya sa balay kay sila ang nakahibaw sa tanan (They were told he had fallen, but we don’t believe that, so we went to the DFA. We want justice for my husband’s death. We want his roommates investigated because they probably know everything),” she added.

His parents, both farmers from Tabogon town, also appealed for justice, saying they can’t accept the sudden death of their child.

Glen, a father of three, worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Malaysia’s capital. He was the sole breadwinner in the family.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) regional office in Cebu already received the repatriation documents and a copy of the death certificate, which stated that Glen died of multiple injuries as a result of the fall.

A copy of the police report was also sent but it was in Bahasa Malaysia. 

In a letter sent to OWWA 7, the OWWA officer in Malaysia said that Glen’s friend suspects that he jumped from the building.

“Based on the police report, a friend confirmed that he saw OFW Garcia lying down on the path from the 8th floor of the building where they reside and which he suspected that the worker might have jumped down,” the officer said.

Jeffrey Signo of OWWA 7 said they will assist Glen’s family in claiming his remains at the airport today, as well as death benefits and financial aid.

Because he was a registered OFW, Glen’s family will be entitled to receive cash and burial aid, and education and livelihood assistance.