Sunday, October 12, 2008 Agency to check on 23 Filipinos still behind bars in Trinidad
TO INVESTIGATE the plight of 23 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) still detained in Trinidad and Tobago, two representatives of their recruitment agency are leaving for the island today.
Be Glad Worldwide Placement Agency (BGWPA), though, is not yet sure whether they will pay for the detainees’ airfare back home.
“That will depend on the investigation,” Josefina Casianan, the agency’s supervisor, told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday. She said the agency will base its decision on the findings of its two representatives, who come from BGWPA’s office in New York.
Pending the agency’s decision, the OFWs’ relatives have their hopes set on government aid.
According to Marisol Fortuna, sister of detained engineer Jacqueline Fortuna, financial aid from Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia might bring the detainees home by the end of this month, “hopefully.”
Provincial Social Welfare Officer Marivic Garces reportedly told Marisol that the processing of the cash vouchers for the OFWs’ airfare back to Cebu might be finished by tomorrow.
The wife of detained OFW Wenrito Wenceslao had requested that the processing of the assistance be speeded up.
Yvonne Wenceslao, who hails from Camotes Island, told Marisol that she spoke with her husband on the phone over the weekend.
“Luya na daw sila (They’re very tired),” Yvonne reportedly told Marisol.
She said Wenrito told her that the trouble over their detention has been stirring trouble in Trinidad and Tobago because of alleged political influences.
“Gubot na daw kay gisakyan na daw og politico (There’s trouble because politics has allegedly entered the picture),” Marisol quoted Yvonne as saying.
Meanwhile, the office of Senate President Manuel Villar assured them that he will help out if Garcia’s assistance is not enough, Marisol said in a phone interview.
But the relatives want to stick by their demand for BGWPA to shoulder the airfare expenses.
Asked by Sun.Star Cebu what the agency’s representatives plan to do about the situation, BGWPA legal officer Antonio Cabreros replied, “Ayusin nila (They will fix it).”
But he said he did not know whether the agency plans to shoulder the OFWs’ airfare back home, saying he is “just a lawyer.”
Cabreros said he can’t recall the names or designation of the two representatives who are flying to the Caribbean island-state.
Casianan also doesn’t know who the representatives are, but assured that the agency will update the OFWs’ relatives once the representatives give them a report. (KAB)
