After more than one month, the remains of deceased overseas worker Lotis Camocamo will finally be flown back to Cebu.
Mariette Megabon, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) coordinator on overseas workers, said Camocamo’s remains will be flown back from Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, Feb. 7.
“The family informed us of the flight details,” she told Cebu Daily News yesterday. Camocamo’s remains will be transported via Philippine Airlines.
Megabon said the worker’s employer offered to pay for the repatriation expenses of about P200,000.
The Toledo City native was 35 years old and had been working for nearly two years when she died.
Camocamo allegedly fell from the third floor of the building where she worked.
In addition to offering to shoulder Camocamo’s burial expenses, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said he is willing to give more.
Community Development Officer Evelyn Degit said the Capitol usually gives out P10,000 in financial assistance to bereaved families.
“However, it is possible to go higher than that, depending on the need,” she said.
Degit said once Camocamo’s remains arrive, the social welfare office will meet the family again to assess what other forms of assistance they may need.
Camocamo’s family earlier claimed they were given the runaround by government agencies before they approached the provincial government for help.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified that what the family claims as a “runaround” was necessary.
DFA Regional Director Anika Fernandez said they advised the family to go to the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) to get information on the employer or agency responsible for the OFW.
“The document issued by OWWA when the family went there was immediately transmitted to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh when the family gave us the document on January 16,” she said in a text message.
Even without the information sheet from OWWA, Fernandez said she still proceeded to file a preliminary report to Manila and Riyadh.
She said they are still waiting for Riyadh’s dispatch on the specific details of the repatriation.