By Ashley Manabat / Correspondent
CLARK FIELD—The Philippine Embassy in Iraq has identified all of the 13 Filipinos who perished in the Capitol Hotel fire in the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Friday.
The highest-ranking Filipino diplomat in Iraq, Elmer G. Cato, said “the hardest part is conveying the sad news to their loved ones in the Philippines.”
Cato said the Kurdistan Regional Government has reiterated on Monday its assurances to the Philippine Embassy that it will do everything possible to facilitate the repatriation of the remains of 13 Filipinos who perished in the deadly inferno in Erbil on Friday.
“While it normally takes two weeks or more before the bodies of deceased migrant workers could be repatriated, the embassy hopes that with the support promised by Kurdish authorities, the families in the Philippines will not wait that long,” Cato said.
Al Jazeera news said the Capitol Hotel fire killed at least 21 people and injured dozens of others in the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region of Erbil.
The governor of Erbil, Nawzad Hadi, told Al Jazeera on Friday that the fire at the Capitol Hotel on Gulan Street killed at least 21 people, including foreigners.
Hadi had initially told reporters at the scene that 13 of the victims were Filipino citizens who worked at a massage center at the hotel. Some of the other victims were from Iraq and Palestine, he said.
According to officials, the fire started in the basement of the building and later spread to the spa area.
Rawand Hawezi, a physician at the Erbil emergency hospital, said they had received the bodies of seven of the victims.
Al Jazeera news said at least 10 firefighters were also taken to the hospital for treatment after suffering from intense smoke inhalation.
Cato said the Kurdistan Regional Government has ruled out terrorism in the incident. He said investigators blamed faulty electrical as the cause of the fire at the basement level of the hotel where the Filipino fatalities were working.
The victims, all females, were suffocated by the smoke while trying to find their way out in the darkness, Cato said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to exert all-out efforts for the speedy repatriation of Filipino workers who were among the 21 people who died in a fire in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
“The DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] must do everything possible to repatriate the remains of the deceased overseas Filipino workers [OFWs] the soonest time. That is the best thing we can do to assuage the grief of their families,” Marcos said.
“To the families of these Filipino workers, I extend my deepest condolences and sympathies,” he added.
Likewise, Marcos urged the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to fast-track the release of whatever benefits and assistance the families of the deceased workers are entitled to receive.
“The Owwa should immediately coordinate with the DFA to establish the identities of the victims and process the necessary documents so the benefits for their families can be readied even as the repatriation efforts are ongoing,” Marcos said.
An active Owwa member is covered by insurance for the duration of his employment contract. This includes P100,000 for death due to natural cause and P200,000 for death due to accident. Legal heirs of a deceased Filipino worker abroad are entitled to receive an additional P20,000 for funeral expenses.
In addition survivors of a deceased Filipino worker are entitled to education assistance consisting of P5,000 for elementary, P8,000 for high school and P10,000 for college per school year, as well as livelihood assistance amounting to P15,000 which is given to the surviving spouse.
Marcos has been pushing for better government support for migrant Filipino workers in recognition of their contribution to our economy paid for by their personal sacrifices and hard work.
He noted that according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas figures, OFW remittances reached almost $23 billion from January to November of 2015, contributing to an estimated 10 percent of our country’s GDP.
“We have to do more for them. We always talk about sila ang ating bagong bayani tapos mayroong laglag-bala. Tapos mayroon iyong binubuksan ang kanilang balikbayan box na wala namang problema. Hindi natin sila tinatrato ng mabuti,” Marcos said in a recent interview.
Marcos believes that what the government should set its eyes on is to create more jobs in the country so that our workers won’t be forced to leave their families behind in search of greener pastures.