BEIJING - Benjie Yango was pleased when he was hired as an English teacher in Harbin in April 2007. The job enabled him to join his wife Fely, a fellow English teacher, in the city near the Chinese-Russian border. But three years later, it is their family that seems to have been taught the biggest lesson about working abroad. Benjie, 33, was found dead inside the couple’s apartment last May 21. Chinese police ruled it a “natural death." Fely, who had returned to Baguio last January to stay with their two boys, flew to Harbin May 28 to retrieve Benjie’s body. She brought him home June 25 after what she describes as five weeks of “torturous" waiting, and buried him early Monday afternoon in a traditional Ibaloi ceremony. Benjie’s case underscores the complexities involved when Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) die on-site: paperwork, unfamiliar bureaucracy, repatriation cost, strange customs – all handled in a foreign language. Philippine law prescribes how repatriation should be carried out, but reality is a creature not easily tamed. Fely, 31, believes the wait to repatriate her husband’s body could have been cut short had the Philippine Embassy in Beijing dealt with the case more efficiently. “They should do their job of speeding up the processing of papers," she says. “They should be the ones to say, ‘You should prepare these. You should send these’ (but) I had to be the one to ask them, ‘What else do I need to submit?’" Fely laments. “I wish they had provided me guidance like, ‘One of our employees will go there. He will help you translate.’ Because they know this is China. Communication alone is difficult," she says. “We went to the police station. I didn’t know if what (Benjie’s employer) was translating was accurate." The words betray Fely’s feelings of helplessness, finding herself in a foreign land under such circumstances, as well as her frustration: she could not properly grieve for her husband of 11 years because practical matters had to take precedence, and she was indefinitely away from her 7- and 10-year-old sons. Unfamiliar practices also added to her stress. When it was time to transport Benjie’s remains from Harbin to Beijing, en route to Manila, the funeral parlor personnel told Fely only family members could move him from the morgue to the van. “There were only the three of us women, three of us Pinoys … People were staring at us," Fely says. “He weighed 70 kilos when he was alive, but he had already been frozen … My body really went stiff (from exertion), I went pale."
English teacher Benjie Yango during happier times in Harbin. Photo courtesy of Fely Yango
“I understand where she’s coming from," Maria Teresa Almojuela, consul general at the Philippine Embassy in Beijing, told GMANews.TV in an interview last June 21. But she hastens to add that Fely’s criticisms are unwarranted, saying the Embassy exerted all effort to send Benjie’s remains home as soon as possible. “We talk about this every day at the Embassy. We’ve done all the representations necessary with the local government, PSB (police) and MFA (Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) by letter and by note, the employer, the Foreign Experts’ Bureau to get clarification what this is all about – why doesn’t (the employer) want to fulfill her responsibilities?" The costs and procedural work for the repatriation of a deceased OFW is a responsibility that falls on both the employer and recruitment agency, according to the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. Benjie did not go through a recruitment agency and his employer refused to pay for his repatriation bill of 80,000 yuan (P549,000), saying there was no such provision in his contract. But his boss did pay 2,165 yuan, the cost of having his body frozen for 23 days while in Harbin. Almojuela says the main role of Philippine embassies and consulates in such cases is to assist the parties involved. “It’s important to give allowances for the way the locals deal with these things," she says, adding that the funeral parlor in Harbin “misinformed" Fely by passing on paperwork it should have done to her and the Embassy. “If her funeral parlor was competent, it doesn’t have to be such a big production," Almojuela says. “We pay for everything. All services, meaning, everything. If you need help, OK, we’ll give it to you, but they should already know (their responsibilities)." The Embassy arranged for a Beijing funeral parlor to take over the work. The funeral parlor transported Benjie’s body from Harbin to the Chinese capital on June 19, a month after the corpse was discovered, and prepared it for repatriation five days later. In response to Fely’s complaint, Almojuela says the job of translating is normally done by employers, but that the Embassy does send personnel to assist Filipinos who are in Beijing. Although Harbin is among the 16 cities, provinces and autonomous regions under the Embassy’s jurisdiction, distance is a big barrier as the city is located 1,061 kilometers northeast of the capital.
OWWA repatriation fund According to the law, the OFW’s employer and recruitment agency can share the responsibility of repatriation – or each can be compelled to fulfill the obligation on its own, says undersecretary for migrant workers’ affairs Esteban Conejos, Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Any Philippine recruitment agency that evades its responsibilities to repatriate deceased OFWs, “we can suspend that agency," says Hans Leo Cacdac, deputy administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). If the employer and recruitment agency refuse to pay for the repatriation of a documented worker, “OWWA (Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration) will advance the money subject for (their) reimbursement," says Conejos. Those who refuse to reimburse the government may be blacklisted or face other administrative sanctions. OWWA has a budget of P70 million for repatriation purposes, says agency administrator Carmelita Dimzon. The fund covers the shipment of remains and the evacuation of OFWs “in cases of war, epidemic, disaster or calamities," according to the Migrant Workers’ Act. As a member of OWWA, Benjie was entitled to the repatriation fund and his family stands to collect P100,000 as death benefit. However, OWWA approved the release of funds, worth $12,000 (P558,000) to completely cover the cost of Benjie’s repatriation only last June 22. The wait contributed to the agony of Benjie’s family, which had raised an estimated P300,000 by then upon the instructions of the Beijing Embassy – part of various options the Embassy explored to send the body home as soon as possible, says Consul General Almojuela. The amount included family loans and donations from concerned Pinoys who heard about their plight through friends’ phone calls and emails, Fely says. In the end, Benjie’s family did not have to shell out any money for the repatriation, allowing them to reserve the donations for the funeral back home. The Beijing Embassy advanced the payment for Benjie’s repatriation while it waited for funds to be transmitted by OWWA, says Almojuela, adding that the Embassy will try to have the government’s repatriation expenses reimbursed by Benjie’s employer.
Compulsory insurance 
Relatives grieve over dead of an OFW
To avoid problems similar to those encountered by Benjie’s family, the Philippine government has given the POEA the mandate to review the work contracts of OFWs that go through recruitment agencies to ensure the documents include a provision on repatriation. Workers whose contracts do not pass the vetting process, “we would not have allowed them to leave," says the POEA’s Cacdac. Last March 8, Philippine law mandated insurance for OFWs deployed by agencies through Republic Act 10022, an amendment to the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act. It says, “Each migrant worker deployed by a recruitment/manning agency shall be covered by a compulsory insurance policy which shall be secured at no cost to the said worker." The insurance includes repatriation in case of death. The implementing rules are still being created, but they should be ready in “one to two months," Cacdac says. Some migrant workers' groups, however, have opposed the compulsory insurance coverage. “They claim the provision would only benefit less than half of the deployed Filipino workers overseas since it covers only those who went through a recruitment agency," says a report published in the Manila Bulletin last March. Benjie is among the majority of OFWs who are directly hired by individuals or companies, for whom the POEA has established a “main hiring unit" to oversee their contracts. However, Cacdac says some cases slip through them since the POEA is not part of the negotiation process between “direct hires" and their employers – unlike those who go through recruitment agencies. Going through the POEA includes the process of signing up for OWWA membership, which provides exemption from the Philippine travel tax and other services such as the repatriation fund. Those who skip POEA can still sign up with OWWA on their own, which, fortunately for his loved ones, is what Benjie did.
One-year old repatriation case Different countries have different requirements for repatriation, so the duration for completing the process varies from place to place. The person’s work status and the nature of his death are also major considerations. The wait can take longer if the person was working illegally and if his death was the result of a crime, various sources say. “In the Middle East it is common for the process to take one to three months," says Conejos of the DFA’s migrant workers’ affairs. “You really have to look at each case individually." Embassies and consulates, being familiar with the laws and practices in their host countries, can speed up the repatriation process by finding solutions to well-known bureaucratic bottlenecks, says Garry Martinez, chairperson of the OFW support group Migrante International. “The embassy should know where the process slows down and should not allow itself to be tied down there," Martinez says, adding that foreign-service officials should know “this is where we are weak, so this is where we need to improve." Kanlungan Centre Foundation, an NGO for migrant workers, says that based on its work with the DFA in the past 12 years, it has become apparent that the department needs to improve communication mechanisms with the deceased OFW’s employer and the relatives waiting for news in the Philippines. “Sometimes (the DFA’s) updates take a long time to come," says Imelda Rebate, Kanlungan’s direct support development program coordinator. “It’s difficult to get in touch with them." The process only gets expedited if the relatives have direct contact with the OFW’s co-workers and friends, she says. One of the longest-running repatriation cases on record is already more than a year old, according to data from Migrante. It involves Marilou Sables, an Iloilo native and an undocumented English teacher in Taiwan, who died of natural causes in April 2009. The case has dragged on because the identity of the remains could not be verified and the family could not afford her repatriation bill equivalent to P145,000, says Martinez. Unlike Benjie Yango who was registered with OWWA and who had a work visa in China, Sables did not have the proper documents to work in Taiwan. Repatriation cases such as hers are especially tricky because they are not covered by a work contract, which means nobody can be held legally responsible for sending them home when they die. Despite risks like this, not to mention getting caught by local authorities for labor-law violations, Filipinos looking for work abroad continue to enter and stay in various countries on a tourist or business visa. Prospective OFWs in China are not required to present any insurance documents when applying for a tourist, business or work visa, which present a risk if something happens to them. For undocumented workers, DFA pays for the cost of repatriation but Conejos adds, “Because our funds are limited, we try to find out if the families and the host government can share in the cost." This year, the Philippine Congress has allocated P150 million for the DFA’s Assistance to Nationals Fund, which includes money for the repatriation of both living and deceased OFWs, says spokesman Ed Malaya. Sables was buried in Taiwan last March 26, but her family is still asking the Philippine government to help them bring her remains back home, says Migrante.
Lessons learned the hard way Cremation is usually a faster – and cheaper – option, based on the observations of Barbie Ignacio, a science teacher in the southern Chinese city of Changzhou. Her 53-year-old co-teacher Danny Cape was found dead at home last October, and she called his wife with the news. “Within two days after Ate Glessie arrived, he was cremated. Within two days, he was brought home," Ignacio says. Cape’s employer handled the paperwork and expenses equivalent to P400,000 – even though they were not stipulated in his contract. “I don’t think we even got in touch with the Shanghai consulate anymore about the case. Everything was done so fast," Ignacio says. “She was so lucky the school took care of everything." The wife only paid for the urn that cost around P17,000. The experience shook Ignacio and her Pinoy co-teachers into reassessing their work contracts. “It’s not in our contract what the school will do if we die," Ignacio says. “I thought maybe we can have it revised." She and her colleagues are negotiating with their employer about adding a repatriation clause. Fely Yango and the Beijing Embassy may not agree on the reasons Benjie’s repatriation took five weeks to complete, but they do see eye to eye on the need for OFWs to wisen up about their contracts. “Some Filipinos, they settle for less than what’s legal, what’s necessary," says Consul General Almojuela. “We understand why they want to find jobs abroad, but sometimes you don’t know what might happen." Fely says, “When they sign contracts, they have to be in detail, including repatriation, benefits … That’s what they should look for, that is what’s important." There are an estimated 1.5 million Overseas Filipino Workers scattered throughout 197 countries. Some 4,000 more join their ranks every day. –
YA, GMANews.TV 
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