08 March 2005 – The Philippine Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil uncovered a scheme of a Filipino seafarer, in collusion with a relative and a co-worker, to fake his death by claiming that an unknown corpse found in Brazil is that of the OFW who had, in fact, only been in hiding in Brazil since 2003.

Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Oscar G. Valenzuela reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that Mr. Allan Macavinta, a Filipino seafarer whose last boarded ship was the M/V Athens of the North, was apprehended by the Brazilian Policia Militar in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul on 22 February 2005 during a routine check.   For his identification, Mr. Macavinta presented to the Police his seaman’s book, stating his birth date that matches the record on his birth certificate.

According to the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA), which has been monitoring the case, Mr. Macavinta had gone missing since he jumped-ship on 28 November 2003 when the M/V Athens of the North was docked in Rio Grande do Sul and from that time had been in hiding in the area without the proper visa.

According to Ambassador Valenzuela’s report, Mr. Macavinta hatched a plan to fake his own death with the collusion of a relative.  When a corpse was found washed up in the banks of a river in Jaguarao, Brazil (about 250 km from Rio Grande do Sul) on 11 December 2003, initial police findings indicated that the dead man could resemble Mr. Macavinta, who by then had been reported missing already.

The Philippine Embassy then relayed this development to the Macavinta family in Cebu.  Basing their assumptions on the initial findings of the Brazilian police authorities, a relative of Allan immediately claimed that the body found was indeed that of the missing Allan and requested the Philippine Embassy to work for the immediate shipment of the remains back to the Philippines.

Even a friend of Allan, who is a second mate of the M/V Athens of the North, furnished the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration office in Cebu with bloodied clothes of Allan and a written statement, confirming that the dead body did belong to Allan.

The Department assisted the Macavinta family in determining the identity of the cadaver through dental and fingerprint comparison.  Results of this investigation however challenged the claim of some relatives that the missing OFW was dead, as the fingerprints and dental profile of the corpse found in the river did not match that of Allan’s records.  Also, according to OUMWA, two other seafarers from the M/V Athens of the North sent to identify the cadaver attested that it was not Allan’s body.

A relative of Allan nevertheless insisted on the original claim and demanded that the corpse be sent back to the Philippines for a proper burial.  The relative also refused to submit a DNA sample for a more definitive test when requested by the DFA, as recommended by the Brazilian Police authorities through the Philippine Embassy.

Several quarters criticized what was viewed as a lack of action by the DFA, and the Philippine Embassy in Brasilia as the relatives complained that it was taking too long for Allan’s supposed remains to be shipped to the Philippines.  Allan’s local manning agency, Sea Workforce Manila Corporation, was even sued by a relative over the matter to claim Allan’s employee benefits.

Presently, the real Mr. Macavinta is under administrative detention at the Policia Federal offices in Rio Grande do Sul and is awaiting repatriation.  The Philippine Embassy is still trying to find out the real motives of Allan, in collusion with a relative, for orchestrating this elaborate deception.  The Department is likewise considering taking legal action on the matter to discourage Filipinos from attempting to pull off similar hoaxes in the future.  END
 
 

/jay