DFA confirms suicide
of 2 HK domestic help

THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed reports that two Pinay domestic helpers in Hong Kong jumped to their death from the high-rise apartments of their employers last April 7.

DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal said Consul General Alejandrino Vicente reported that police are investigating the suicide cases of Melba Alava Pardua, 50, and Carolina Agabin Dacquil, 31. Both are from Isabela province.

"The employer of Pardua and the employment agency of Dacquil separately reported the cases to the consulate," Cristobal said.

"The consulate is coordinating the repatriation of the remains of the two Filipinas to Tuguegarao on April 15," he said.

Reports in Hong Kong said Pardua’s body was discovered around 11:30 a.m. Pardua’s Chinese employer, with whom she has been working for the past 13 years, told police they thought she was buying newspaper.

Dacquil was found dead at around 6 a.m. Reports said she jumped from her employer’s 9-floor apartment in Aberdeen.

Her employers said she never mentioned having any problems. Dacquil had been working in Hong Kong for seven years but her employers said she started working for them in January 2007.

Cristobal also said that Maria Lourdes Ramiro-Lopez, consul general in Osaka, has reported that the Japan Coast Guard has identified the body found floating in the middle of Osaka Bay last April 5 as that of Rodryan Bracamonte.

Bracamonte was one of the two missing Filipino crew of MV Gold Leader which sank following a three-ship collision in the Akashi Strait near Kobe last March 5.

The Belize-registered MV Gold Leader, manned by a crew of nine Filipinos, was struck by oil tanker Ocean Phoenix after it collided with gravel carrier Daigo Eisei Maru.