OFW who died in Hong Kong fire slated to come home for Christmas

Maryan Pascual Esteban, the overseas Filipino worker who was killed in the massive fire at a high-rise residential complex in Hong Kong, was supposed to come home for Christmas to be with her family and her 10-year-old son.

According to Jonathan Andal’s report on “Saksi” on Monday night, Esteban, 40, was scheduled to return to the Philippines on December 16.

GMA Integrated News sought out Esteban’s family in Jones, Isabela, who expressed hope that the remains of their daughter would be brought home soon.

“Our Christmas would have been so happy, but this happened,” Manayon Esteban Medina, Esteban’s mother, said in Ilocano.

It was also the birthday of Pascual’s father, Jaime, but the family could not bring themselves to prepare a simple spread because of their grief.

“I hope they can hasten the return of her remains. I hope they can do it in three weeks,” Jaime said in Ilocano.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) assured that it will extend financial assistance to Pascual’s family and that the remains will be repatriated immediately.

DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac and OWWA administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan personally visited Pascual’s 10-year-old son in Cainta, Rizal.

Pascual has been an OFW in Hong Kong for four years when a massive fire hit a high-rise residential complex that killed 151 so far.

The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has extended relief goods to affected Filipinos, apart from financial assistance. It is also helping them reconstruct their documents that were lost in the blaze.

Pascual – who previously worked in Lebanon for 10 years before transferring to Hong Kong – was supposed to get custody of her son upon her homecoming.

The boy will receive educational assistance until he finishes his college studies. The OWWA also encouraged Pascual’s son to finish school as his mother would have wanted.

When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, the boy said he wants to be a firefighter – so that no one else would have to die in a fire. — JMA, GMA Integrated News