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Thursday, April 28, 2005
Overseas Pinoy worker's remains home Thursday
By Chris Navarro
* Wife, relatives prepare for Torres' wake
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The body of Capampangan Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Rey Torres arrives in the country Thursday.
Glo, Torres' wife, said she was informed Thursday by officials of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) that her husband's remains will be arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) via a 747 Gulf Airlines from Kuwait.
She said she and some relatives leave Thursday morning to retrieve the body of her husband, which is expected to arrive at Naia around 1 p.m.
Glo said the Owwa has already released the P200,000 insurance benefits and P25,000 burial assistance due to her family.
They also have already made preparations for Torres' wake at their small home in Barangay San Jose, this city.
Pampanga Governor Mark T. Lapid shelled out P8,000 from his personal resources as financial assistance to the Torres family. This is aside from the two truckloads of "filling materials" that the governor has ordered for the upgrading of the Torreses' compound.
The provincial social welfare office, likewise, has prepared a case study for the livelihood needs and counseling of the Torres family.
Earlier, the Office of Senator Lito Lapid, through lawyer Benalfre Galang, senior political officer, coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Owwa and the Philippine Embassy in Iraq and Kuwait "that facilitated the return of Torres' remains".
Torres, a 32-year-old truck driver working for Qatar International Trading (QIT), was ambushed-together with an Egyptian companion-by suspected Iraqi terrorists in Baghdad, Iraq on April 17.
Reports released by the DFA to the media said that Torres and his companion left the Victory camp, a US controlled military facility, on board a company vehicle going to the town proper.
It was not clear why the two left camp, but according to some of their co-workers, Torres wanted to buy something.
Before reaching their destination, heavily armed men fired upon their vehicle killing the Filipino OFW on the spot, while his companion was seriously wounded.
Torres is the fifth Capampangan killed in war-stricken countries in the Middle East since 2002.
(April 28, 2005 issue)
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