Family of OFW suspected to have been starved to death demands justice

Family of OFW suspected to have been starved to death demands justice

Janice Joy Pampangan’s arms bore marks of being either tied with a thick rope or handcuffed; her left eye was missing; and her internal organs were shrunken. Her fingernails were long and her body appeared disheveled, indicating that she was tied, abused, and left to die.
by INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

There is no grief like that of parents whose child had been killed and continues to be denied justice.
A year after her death, the family of Janice Joy Pampangan, 25, continues to cry to high heavens seeking justice for their daughter. Janice Joy, originally from Makilala, Kidapawan in South Cotabato, died in Jordan May 2010 under mysterious circumstances. The mystery has been compounded as her family received three death certificates stating three different dates of her demise.

According to Migrante-Middle East regional director John Leonard Monterona, the Pampangan family has sought the assistance of a Migrante chapter in Davao City because they felt Philippine authorities have not acted on their appeals for an investigation into Janice Joy’s death.

Janice Joy was recruited by a Paranaque-based Almeladi recruitment agency to work as a domestic worker for a Jordanian household. She left for Jordan on September 15, 2005. She signed a two-year contract and successfully completed it in 2007, but, according to reports, her employer forbid her to leave despite her constant pleas.

In the fact sheet of her case prepared by Migrante-Davao chapter, Janice Joy’s parents said that in October 2007, their daughter was able to talk to them on the phone but the call lasted for less than 30 minutes. Her previous phone calls were even shorter and so were the ones that followed that October 2007 call.

The victim’s father had previously accused the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) of negligence for her daughter’s death. In a media interview, Janice’s father Faustino Pampangan said that after leaving for Oman, jordan in 2005, Janice did not contact her family for five months causing her parents to worry. Faustino went to the OWWA, but the agency told him to wait for at least a year explaining that it was not unusual for OFW to fail to contact their families for long periods.

After a year of waiting, he went back and asked Owwa about her daughter’s whereabouts and was asked to wait again.

Finally, during that period, they were able to talk to Janice Joy, but the girl said she could not talk much about what was happening to her because her employer was always present. “But even then she was already asking us to help her to leave her employer,” the father said.

Janice Joy’s mother said they had also gone to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), but the DFA only kept telling them that they were still “processing” Janice Joy’s case. We kept returning to the DFA, but they were never able to help us,” she said.

Owwa and DFA deaf to OFW family’s pleas

For three years since their daughter began working in Jordan, Faustino said they appealed to the DFA and the Owwa to help bring Janice Joy home out of fear for her safety. They were convinced even then that Janice Joy was a victim of constant abuse.

“She was forced to stay with her employer for three years, but the entire time she wanted to come home. We kept asking the Owwa for help, but all it did was refer us to different offices,” Faustino said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/09/20/family-of-ofw-suspected-to-have-been-starved-to-death-demands-justice/