The family of Rona Jean Gervoso, a household worker from Antique who died in Lebanon, received a personal visit from the country’s top migrant labor official on June 15, as the government moved to repair the fallout from a mishandling of her remains.
Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac traveled to Sibalom in Antique to deliver the administration’s condolences and to commit the agency to standing by the bereaved household. He told the family they would not be left to carry the loss on their own and that the state was prepared to walk them through what comes next.
Central to the visit was an apology over a serious error: the wrong set of remains had been delivered to the Gervoso household. Cacdac addressed it directly. “Lubos po kaming nakikiramay sa inyong pamilya. Humihingi po kami ng taos-pusong paumanhin sa nangyaring pagkakapalit ng mga labi. Sisiguraduhin po namin na mabibigyan kayo ng kinakailangang suporta at hustisya sa pangyayaring ito,” he said.
The secretary said his trip carried a direct instruction from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who asked him to personally convey the government’s sympathy and to make certain the family lacked for nothing during their period of grief.
On the question of accountability, the DMW pledged that anyone found at fault for the switch would answer for it. The agency’s Labor Attaché in Lebanon has been ordered to engage the relevant authorities there and to pursue the legal measures needed to pin down who was involved and hold them responsible.
Coordination between the DMW Regional Office VI and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will continue until Gervoso is laid to rest, with both arms of government tasked to keep meeting the family’s needs through the burial.
Cacdac also sat down with Sibalom Mayor Gian Carlo Occeña, the two agreeing to tighten cooperation on the legal, financial, and other forms of help being extended to the Gervoso household. The secretary framed the assistance as part of a broader duty the government owes to overseas workers and the loved ones they leave behind, particularly when those families are tested as severely as this one has been.
