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Friday, November 05, 2004
Missing Dabawenyo gets support through prayers
By Joy G. Romares and Jenny M. Mendoza
With Marie Neri
DAVAO CITY -- Several groups in Davao City have launched prayer vigils for the safety of Dabawenyo Roberto "Bobby" Tarongoy, an overseas worker abducted in Iraq, even as government vowed to exhaust all means to bring him back home.
Members of Couples for Christ, Migrante and human rights group Karapatan have joined Bobby's family, friends and relatives in praying for his safe and immediate release at the house of his parents at the San Pedro Memorial Park compound in Madapo Hills.
Four days after Bobby was reported kidnapped, hundreds of Dabawenyos trooped to his parents' house to show their support and pray for his safety.
Bobby was allegedly abducted by Iraqi insurgents who barged into the compound of the Saudi firm he works for in western Baghdad on Monday.
Tomas Tarongoy, Bobby's father, said they will continue to ask help from the Almighty Father until such time they are assured of his son's safety.
Tomas also said that Ivy Grace, Bobby's wife, regularly calls or sends text messages, telling them not to worry much.
Ivy Grace is now in Manila, monitoring developments from there.
Wife's appeal
Ivy Grace on Wednesday night had appealed to her husband's Iraqi captors to let him go.
"Please release my husband. He is a very good husband and a very good man. Please have mercy on him," a teary eyed Ivy Grace said.
The 28-year-old wife of Tarongoy admitted she was totally unaware of his husband's abduction because she was able to talk to him two to three hours before he was reported missing.
"I was not aware of the abduction but the last time we talked was last Monday," Ivy Grace said.
According to Ivy, she was surprised when her husband called her sometime in July and told her that he is working as an accountant for one of the food concessionaires in Iraq.
Although Tarongoy informed her of his plan to go abroad, Ivy Grace said that when he left Davao City last June 28, 2004, he said he would try to find work in Manila.
Tarongoy left Manila for an accounting work in Baghdad on July 26, six days after Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz was freed by his Iraqi captors.
Undocumented OFWs
On July 10, three days after dela Cruz was confirmed kidnapped by Iraqi militants, the Department of Labor and Employment ordered a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq.
It was not clear how Bobby's recruiter or employer managed to get him into Iraq despite the ban.
Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) 11 Director Francisco Domingo said he has contacted Tarongoy's employment agency, JS Contractor, and the company said they had an applicant by this name.
The company said, however, they did not process the application following a ban on the deployment of laborers to Iraq.
JS Contractor has a branch in Davao City.
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said POEA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (Owwa) do not have records of Tarongoy because he left the country using a business visa or a visitor's visa to Doha, Qatar.
She said they learned that Tarongoy left the country in July 23 for Bangkok and from there proceeded to Baghdad.
Sto. Tomas added that Bobby was working outside the US bases in Iraq but close to the so-called green zone, which was supposed to be relatively safe.
(November 5, 2004 issue)
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