by Jonathan Canchela
Canada Correspondent
Repatriation is one of the benefits due her as a migrant worker and an OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) member. Yet when Elenita “Beng-Beng” Pallanan, the family’s sole breadwinner, finally went home for interment from Toronto, Canada, to her home in Bgy Sinikway, Lapuz in the district of La Paz, Iloilo City last July 17, the Philippine Consulate, when asked how to bring her body back to the Philippines merely said, “fundraise” and seek help from Filipino organizations.
That said as much for the treatment of one of the country’s “modern heroes.”
Elenita was the youngest in a brood of four. Her father died years ago. Her mother, 60, has a heart ailment and is dependent on a minimal Social Security System (SSS) monthly pension. Elenita left her family in 2005 to work in Hong Kong. She had dreams of affording her mother and a brother who suffers from illness in his spinal column, proper treatment in a hospital. In the long run, she had hoped to bring them to Canada. With Elenita gone, what does the future hold for her family?
In the end it was still the Filipino migrants who took action— took care of her remains as well as a trust fund for her family’s immediate needs arising from the loss of a breadwinner.
Upon Siklab-Ontario’s insistence, Elenita’s remains were brought to the Philippines by the work agency which brought her from Canada to Hong Kong. All the while, the Philiipine Consulate took no action, when by law it is tasked to inform or provide step by step guidance for the repatriation of the dead, especially when no next of kin is immediately available to take charge.
Siklab-Ontario also set up a Friends of Elenita Pallanan Committee and initially raised $700 from friends, supporter s and anonymous donors and sent to the Pallanan family. Migrante-Iloilo is also helping the Pallanan family to claim Elenita’s benefits from OWWA.
Canada Correspondent
Repatriation is one of the benefits due her as a migrant worker and an OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) member. Yet when Elenita “Beng-Beng” Pallanan, the family’s sole breadwinner, finally went home for interment from Toronto, Canada, to her home in Bgy Sinikway, Lapuz in the district of La Paz, Iloilo City last July 17, the Philippine Consulate, when asked how to bring her body back to the Philippines merely said, “fundraise” and seek help from Filipino organizations.
That said as much for the treatment of one of the country’s “modern heroes.”
Elenita was the youngest in a brood of four. Her father died years ago. Her mother, 60, has a heart ailment and is dependent on a minimal Social Security System (SSS) monthly pension. Elenita left her family in 2005 to work in Hong Kong. She had dreams of affording her mother and a brother who suffers from illness in his spinal column, proper treatment in a hospital. In the long run, she had hoped to bring them to Canada. With Elenita gone, what does the future hold for her family?In the end it was still the Filipino migrants who took action— took care of her remains as well as a trust fund for her family’s immediate needs arising from the loss of a breadwinner.
Upon Siklab-Ontario’s insistence, Elenita’s remains were brought to the Philippines by the work agency which brought her from Canada to Hong Kong. All the while, the Philiipine Consulate took no action, when by law it is tasked to inform or provide step by step guidance for the repatriation of the dead, especially when no next of kin is immediately available to take charge.
Siklab-Ontario also set up a Friends of Elenita Pallanan Committee and initially raised $700 from friends, supporter s and anonymous donors and sent to the Pallanan family. Migrante-Iloilo is also helping the Pallanan family to claim Elenita’s benefits from OWWA.
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