Lawmaker seeks probe of OFW’s death in Australia


Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) - March 23, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The lone representative of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) yesterday urged the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to look into the death of a Filipino farm worker in Australia.
“The circumstances of the reported death of Jerwin Royupa are suspicious. His family has cast doubt on the alleged cause of his death. That is why we are asking the concerned authorities to start an inquiry,” Rep. John Bertiz of party-list group ACTS-OFW said.
“We send our deepest condolences to Jerwin’s family and we will work closely with the concerned agencies and the government of Australia to find out what really happened while he was working there,” he said.
Based on what ACTS-OFW has learned, Royupa, 21, left his hometown of Calasiao, Pangasinan in February to work in a farm in Australia. 
About a month into his work, he told his family that he was encountering problems with his employer, who allegedly took his passport. 
His difficulties prompted him to plan to return home before the end of this month. However, on Wednesday, his relatives said Royupa’s employer informed them that he had died after jumping from a moving vehicle.
They said they were told that Jerwin suffered from critical bleeding in the head, chest and abdomen.
“Royupa’s family found the employer’s story farfetched, as they had no reason to believe that Jerwin will hurt himself days before he was bound to return home,” Bertiz said.
He said cases such as that of Royupa “are not new to our OFWs.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more