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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Tarongoy charged $900 in placement: Owwa
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
DAVAO CITY -- An Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration (Owwa) 11 official said Monday that abducted overseas worker Robert Tarongoy was asked to pay a placement fee to be able to work in Iraq.
Owwa 11 Director Zenobia Caro said Tarongoy already paid half of the US$900 placement fee to the agency that made possible his employment with Saudi Trading and Construction Co. (Satco).
He was assigned to the office in Iraq of Satco, which provided catering and foodstuffs to the Iraqi army and others.
Tarongoy, who received a monthly salary of $900 with Satco, was made to pay placement equivalent to his monthly wage. He needed to pay the placement in four installments within four months.
The agency that reportedly recruited Tarongoy for Iraq employment is now being investigated for violating a government ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in Iraq.
Tarongoy reportedly left for Iraq several days after the ban had taken effect, using a tourist or business visa for Doha, Qatar.
Caro, however, said it is the Manila office of JS Contractor that would be investigated.
The Davao office said it only takes care of recruitment, not deployment.
When asked how Tarongoy was able to fly to Iraq, Caro said, "We have a lot workers here na nakalabas pa rin kahit tourist visa ang ginamit, ganun din 'yong kay Bobby, nakalabas pa rin siya kahit business visa ang ginamit." (A lot of workers are able to leave the country using a tourist visa, like Tarongoy's case.)
Caro said she was able to talk with the victim's parents Monday morning.
She said they are hoping that Tarongoy is still alive but they are leaving everything to God.
"The government naman is doing everything to help locate Bobby at sana makabalik na siya," she said. (Government for its part is doing everything to locate Tarongoy and bring him safely home.)
(November 9, 2004 issue)
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