ILOILO CITY — It was a silent but an emotional reunion for the family of Angelo Claveria as his skeletal remains arrived Sunday morning at his hometown in Cabatuan, Iloilo.
His mother, Angelita, and his seven siblings were quietly in tears as they met his remains, sealed inside a four-foot long wooden casket and wrapped in paperboard, wheeled out of the cargo bay of the Iloilo International Airport.
The family members wore white with the message “#JusticeForAngeloClaveria”.
The 34-year old slain OFW was brought home on board Philippine Airlines flight PR 2141 around 9:30 a.m.
Angelo’s remains were accompanied by Albert Valenciano, Director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and Consul General Iric Cruz Arribas, and other personnel of the Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
A few minutes after the arrival, his remains were brought to Amoroso Solania Funeral Homes, also in Cabatuan town, where the wooden casket was privately opened in a room for his family’s viewing.
The Claveria family heavily wept when the remains reached their home at Zone 4, Rizal St. Poblacion Ilaya, Cabatuan.
Angelo’s mother, Angelita, was in tears while she muttered in the vernacular that the suspect should have asked money from his son instead of killing him.
“He (Angelo) is a generous son,” she said.
Angelo’s younger sister, Jeanette, also an OFW who just came home from Bahrain, described her brother as “jolly.”
“We are not that close but we we’re like group of friends every time we bond together,” she said.
While Jeanette is still in pain after reuniting with the remains of Angelo, she hopes that justice will be served to his brother.
She said she believes that his brother was killed by his male co-worker who is attracted to him.
His brother’s killer, she said, might be using Angelo’s Facebook account since he is replying in “Tagalog” instead of “Karay-a,” a local dialect spoken in western Visayas.
Meantime, in a press conference, Valenciano said that they would give PHP200,000 death benefit, PHP20,000 burial assistance and PHP15,000 livelihood assistance to the family.
It has been earlier been reported that the suspect in the killing of Angelo was already identified.
But Valenciano said the investigation of South Korean authorities is still ongoing.
“The embassy in Korea is coordinating with the authority in order (to) hasten the resolve of the death case (of Angelo),” he said.
Apart from the assistance from OWWA, the provincial office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Iloilo also committed livelihood assistance worth PHP20,000.
Joselito dela Banda, provincial head of DOLE -Iloilo said that the family wanted a native chicken production business.
He said that the livelihood grant would be given as soon as possible because they are now in the process of profiling.
Angelo left to work in a factory in South Korea in 2014. He made his last communication with his family on Christmas Eve of 2015.
Through a DNA test, Korean authorities confirmed that the bones found in a water purifier facility in South Korea were that of Angelo’s.
His interment is scheduled June 1 at Cabatuan Public Cemetery after a mass at the Cabatuan Parish Church. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
