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Monday, April 25, 2005
Remains of Pinoy worker brought home this week
By Chris Navarro
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The body of a 32-year-old truck driver who was killed in an ambush in Baghdad, Iraq last week will be brought back to his family and friends here within the week.
Gloria, the wife of slain Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Rey Torres, said Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) officials have informed her that her husband's body has left Kuwait and "will be arriving soon".
She said their family have prepared for Torres's wake in their residence at Purok 8 in Barangay San Jose.
Senator Lito Lapid and Pampanga Governor Mark T. Lapid have been coordinating with concerned National Government agencies to see the early return of Torres's body to his loved ones.
Since the news of Torres death broke out, the Lapids have worked for the immediate transport of his remains from Baghdad to Kuwait and to the Philippines.
The younger Lapid said his father's office is constantly "in touch" with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine embassies in Iraq and Kuwait.
The governor also mobilized Provincial Government officials to attend to the needs of Torres family members, including the delivery of two truck loads of filling materials for the repair of the road leading to their house.
Lapid said he has also provided financial assistance "out of his own pocket" amounting to P15,000, for cash and food allocation.
He said he would also coordinate with Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman "to look into the possibility of providing other benefits to the Torres family".
Lapid added that since the Provincial Government has no "scholarship program", his office will be coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd) to ask for assistance in providing for the educational needs of Torres's five young children.
He said a social welfare officer was sent to assist the family in both their social and psychological needs.
Torres, employed as a truck driver of Qatar International Trading (QIT), and his Egyptian companion were ambushed by suspected Iraqi terrorists on April 17 just outside Victory Camp, a US-controlled military facility in Baghdad, Iraq.
He is the fifth Kapampangan killed in war-stricken countries in the Middle East since 2002.
(April 25, 2005 issue)
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