18 November 2005 – Mr. Ariz Severino V. Convelecer, Chargé d’Affaires, a. i. (CDA) of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Embassy is now working for the immediate return to the Philippines of the remains of two OFWs who died after a bombing incident in eastern Iraq on Friday 11 November 2005.

CDA Convelecer said the remains of OFW Ponciano Men-men Loque and OFW Benjie Bongolan Carreon are tentatively scheduled to arrive in Manila at 1:13 p.m. on Tuesday, 22 November 2005, aboard Qatar Airways flight QR 646.  The remains of the OFWs earlier arrived in Kuwait from Iraq aboard a US Air Force C-130 on Friday, 11 November 2005, at 10:30 p.m.

The Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, DFA has coordinated with the next of kin of the two OFWs on the arrangements for bringing back the bodies to their respective families in the Philippines.

CDA Convelecer said that based on records received from the US authorities, OFWs Loque and Carreon died on 11 November 2005 at 5:45 a.m. as a result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED or roadside bomb).
 
Meanwhile, Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Joel R. Nunag of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs “no Filipino nationals were killed or injured at a roadside bombing incident in Baghdad on 14 November 2005, Monday.”

OIC Nunag said that the Embassy spoke with one of the Filipino security personnel employed by DYN Corporation International, who said two of their South African security escorts were killed when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb while approaching a road leading to the “Assassin’s Gate” – the entrance to Baghdad’s International Zone that has been a frequent target of attack by insurgents.

OIC Nunag added that DYN Corporation International employs around 45 OFWs, mostly as security guards and personal security escorts of expatriates. END