CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The chief of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) here said yesterday that three Kapampangans who were among the 10 Filipinos killed during a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last Sunday did not have any record of their latest foreign employment.
“It appears that their foreign employment was irregular,” OWWA regional chief Winnie Palma told Punto.
She was referring to Noel Visda of Lubao, Mario Najero of San Fernando, and Mark Joseph Mariano of Floridablanca, all in Pampanga.
But she noted that while records indicated the name Leopoldo Jimenez as being listed by the OWWA as legitimate overseas Filipino worker, Palma could not immediately say whether the name referred to the same person from Lubao, Pampanga who was among those killed in the accident last Sunday.
“There were at least four persons listed with that name, but there were no addresses,” she noted.
Earlier, OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon, also a Kapampangan from Guagua, said the 10 OFWs were deployed to work in the Middle East in 2004 but apparently slipped into Afghanistan as alleged illegal workers.
“Based on our records, they had already returned (to the Philippines) after working in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, but left again as tourists first week of July,” Dimzon said, noting that the 10 workers had entered Dubai as tourists.
The Philippines has banned its workers from Afghanistan, but many still find employment at military bases there. Last March, a Filipino carpenter at Kandahar Air Base was reportedly killed in a rocket attack in the same country.
The 10 Filipinos killed on Sunday had been working at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base for several years amid a government ban on travel to Afghanistan.
Reports said 16 out of 21 people aboard the Russian-owned civilian Mi-8 helicopter were killed when it slammed into the tarmac at Kandahar Air Base shortly after takeoff.
The other fatalities included Ely Cariño of Cabusao, Camarines Sur; Manolito Hornilla of Taysan, Batangas; ; Celso Caralde of Butuan City; Rene D. Taboclaon of Cagayan de Oro City, Recardo E. Vallejos of Bislig, Surigao del Sur.
American firm Fluor Corp. earlier denied recruiting the 10 Filipino fatalities to work in Afghanistan as its spokesman Keith Stephens said they were employed by subcontractor AIM Group Inc., also a US-based construction firm.
Stephens said the accident occurred inside Kandahar Air Force Base’s secured perimeter in southern Afghanistan but no military and Fluor employees were onboard the helicopter.
“It appears that their foreign employment was irregular,” OWWA regional chief Winnie Palma told Punto.
She was referring to Noel Visda of Lubao, Mario Najero of San Fernando, and Mark Joseph Mariano of Floridablanca, all in Pampanga.
But she noted that while records indicated the name Leopoldo Jimenez as being listed by the OWWA as legitimate overseas Filipino worker, Palma could not immediately say whether the name referred to the same person from Lubao, Pampanga who was among those killed in the accident last Sunday.
“There were at least four persons listed with that name, but there were no addresses,” she noted.
Earlier, OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon, also a Kapampangan from Guagua, said the 10 OFWs were deployed to work in the Middle East in 2004 but apparently slipped into Afghanistan as alleged illegal workers.
“Based on our records, they had already returned (to the Philippines) after working in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq, but left again as tourists first week of July,” Dimzon said, noting that the 10 workers had entered Dubai as tourists.
The Philippines has banned its workers from Afghanistan, but many still find employment at military bases there. Last March, a Filipino carpenter at Kandahar Air Base was reportedly killed in a rocket attack in the same country.
The 10 Filipinos killed on Sunday had been working at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base for several years amid a government ban on travel to Afghanistan.
Reports said 16 out of 21 people aboard the Russian-owned civilian Mi-8 helicopter were killed when it slammed into the tarmac at Kandahar Air Base shortly after takeoff.
The other fatalities included Ely Cariño of Cabusao, Camarines Sur; Manolito Hornilla of Taysan, Batangas; ; Celso Caralde of Butuan City; Rene D. Taboclaon of Cagayan de Oro City, Recardo E. Vallejos of Bislig, Surigao del Sur.
American firm Fluor Corp. earlier denied recruiting the 10 Filipino fatalities to work in Afghanistan as its spokesman Keith Stephens said they were employed by subcontractor AIM Group Inc., also a US-based construction firm.
Stephens said the accident occurred inside Kandahar Air Force Base’s secured perimeter in southern Afghanistan but no military and Fluor employees were onboard the helicopter.
