Family of slain OFW gets Owwa death benefit

MANILA, Philippines—The government has given P220,000 to the family of the overseas Filipino worker whose body was found in a suitcase in the parking lot of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last week, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said on Saturday.

Baldoz said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) in Region IX released the P220,000 in death and burial benefits to the family of Nidz Ailyn Jumadi Bahjin, 23, of Patikul, Sulu.

“Bahjin’s remains were finally brought to her hometown of Igasan in Patikul through the assistance of the Owwa of which she was a member,” Baldoz said in a statement. “The Owwa delivered to her family her death and burial benefits in the amount of P220,000.”

Bahjin’s remains arrived in Zamboanga City via Philippine Airlines and were brought to Patikul accompanied by Owwa IX personnel Rosalito Sultan and Sattar Yusup and Bahjin’s father.

Baldoz said Owwa also provided airport transfer and welfare assistance to the family.

She encouraged Bahjin’s family to avail themselves of Owwa Education and Livelihood Assistance Program scholarships for Bahjin’s dependents after it was learned that she went abroad to help in the education of her siblings, Baldoz said.

Under the Owwa program, a legal dependent of a deceased OFW can avail of the special education benefit package until college, she said.

Baldoz said Owwa records showed that Bahjin left the country on Oct. 6, 2011, to work as a housemaid for two years in Oman. She returned to the Philippines after complaining that she could not do the job where she had to take care of the five children of her employer.

Her body was found the day after she arrived. Police are retracing her movements and tracking the people who met her at Naia with the help of the airport’s CCTV cameras.