After long delay, OFW makes final trip from Harbin to Baguio

BEIJING – Fely Yango and her husband are flying back to Manila from northern China on Thursday, a trip they also took six months ago. But this time Benjie is not on the seat next to Fely. He is in the aircraft’s cargo hold, sealed inside three layers of wooden casings. Benjie, a 33-year-old English teacher in Harbin, a city near the Chinese-Russian border, was found dead in his apartment last May 21. Five weeks later, his body is making its way back to his native Baguio City, and what Fely describes as psychological “torture" is finally coming to an end.

English teacher Benjie Yango during happier times in Harbin. Photo courtesy of Fely Yango

Chinese police ruled Benjie’s case a “natural death." They did not provide details, and the Yango family has decided to forgo an autopsy that could determine the exact cause of death to avoid further delay of the body’s repatriation. The autopsy takes up to three weeks to complete and Fely, who flew to Harbin last May 28 to help speed up the repatriation process, rues the waste of time. “If they had told me (the paperwork) would take a long time, a month, I could have decided to have the autopsy done in the first place," she says. Such statements reflect the cynicism that the 31-year-old widow and mother of two feels toward the Philippine government. She blames the Embassy in Beijing for the month-long delay in Benjie’s repatriation, saying its personnel were inattentive to the case. “Here in China they take action, but not enough – far short of enough," Fely says. “I’ve fulfilled my responsibilities, but they should also do their part. “They should be the ones to say, ‘You should prepare these (documents), you should send these.’ But no, I had to be the one to ask. I told myself I should have just surfed online for the repatriation requirements."

Benjie with his wife Fely, also an English teacher, and sons Holy Elyjam and Benjamin Jr. at the Baguio Botanical Garden last January. Photo courtesy of Fely Yango

The Embassy refutes Fely’s accusations, saying her husband’s repatriation had been one of its priorities in the past month. “This case has engaged us since (May) 24th, every day, including weekends," says Maria Teresa Almojuela, consul general at the Embassy. She added that Fely was “misinformed" by the funeral parlor in Harbin, which passed on the paperwork it should have done to Fely and the Philippine embassy. “We even approached MFA (the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) just to influence people there in Harbin to work faster. And they have the money now, we worked on that," she says, referring to the $12,000 that the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) has allotted for Benjie’s repatriation bill. However, funding from the government was not approved until Tuesday this week, and the family had to raise about half of the amount through loans and donations from Pinoys all over the world in accordance with the Embassy’s instructions. According to Philippine regulations, the costs and procedural work for the repatriation of a deceased Filipino worker is the responsibility of either the worker’s employer or recruitment agency, says undersecretary for migrant workers’ affairs Esteban Conejos, Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). If none of these parties agree to pay, in the case of documented workers, “OWWA will advance the money subject for reimbursement," Conejos says.

Benjie's death certificate says he died of "natural causes"

Benjie did not go through any recruitment agency, and while his employer paid the equivalent of P14,600 for the cost of freezing his body for 23 days, she refused to pay for the body’s repatriation. Last Tuesday night, Fely and other Pinoys had a traditional pinikpikan ritual in Beijing as thanksgiving for the repatriation, a safe journey back to Baguio, and the repose of Benjie's soul. Before sunrise on Friday, Fely expects to be back in the bosom of the couple's Bontoc-Ibaloi clan, which wants Benjie laid to rest after a four-day traditional ceremony. With an autopsy in Baguio City out of the picture, the cause of Benjie’s death may never be known. “I will just leave it to God," Fely says, adding that the family has waited long enough to bury Benjie. “I’ve had enough torture, and the dead has also been tortured." – YA, GMANews.TV