Wife wants DNA test on bodies of slain OFWs

The wife of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) asked for more proofs that her husband, identified as Iluminado “Bong” Santiago, was among six overseas Filipino workers killed by during a hostage taking launched by Al Qaida linked “Signatories in Blood” at In Amenas in Algeria last week, a local paper said.

“I really want to be sure it is him (who is dead),” Estrella Santiago told the Inquirer as she requested for the use of DNA tests on bodies that were recovered after the hostage-taking crisis at the oil plant.

“I still hope he is alive,” said Mrs. Santiago, school teacher and a resident of Apalit, Pampanga in central Luzon.

Representative of the foreign affairs department and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) have given information about the death of her husband, although his body was not yet recovered, said Mrs. Santiago.

She also asked for a complete list of OFWs who survived the incident, some of whom were brought to Italy and Germany, hoping that her husband might be with those groups.

Her scepticism began when her husband’s co-worker and friend, Joseph Balmaceda, who survived the incident, returned to the Philippines on Monday, and visited the Santiago family on Tuesday.

Narrating to the family what happened, Balmaceda said he and Santiago were herded by the hostage- takers into one of the five trucks that were filled up with hostages from the gas plant.

It was Santiago who asked the hostage-takers about their motive and was told, “We are angry at the British and French (nationals),” one of Santiago’s children, Christian, quoted Balmaceda as saying.

“(Balmaceda) told us the terrorists were transferring the hostages out of the gas plant because they were going to bomb it. But as the convoy was heading out of the plant, the Algerian forces rushed to bomb the convoy,” Santiago’s son said.

“As the hostage takers were asked to raise their hands (like human shields for the hostage-takers) when an Algerian military plane hovered, it was Bong (Santiago) who tried to assure us that we were going to be safe. He led us in prayers for a miracle,” the young Santiago told Balmaceda’s story.

“He (Santiago) had no wounds or traces of blood but he looked afraid. I’m sure Bong was in (that state) when I left him (to find safety),” Santiago’s son added.

Earlier, Balmaceda said he was the only survivor among those in the vehicle that was bombed on the first day of the hostage-taking.

“As a husband and father, he was more than 10 (on a scale of 10). He had no vices. When he was in the country, all his time was for our children,” Mrs. Santiago recalled.

In December 2011, Santiago finishing building his family’s two-storey concrete “dream house” on a 200 square metre lot at Royal Family Homes. He also bought them a black Mitsubishi car.

The Santiago couple’s children are aged 13, 10 and 5.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/philippines/wife-wants-dna-test-on-bodies-of-slain-ofws-1.1136613