Body of Filipino worker waiting to be sent home

The body of a Filipino worker who fell into a coma for a week before succumbing at the Commonwealth Health Center on Saturday is waiting to be sent home, pending the Department of Labor’s determination of the worker’s last employer of record, which is responsible for shouldering his medical and transportation expenses.

Rodolfo Pabale had been in a coma since the morning of March 21 after he had a stroke while cooking in his apartment in San Antonio.

A week later, on March 29, Pabale passed away at CHC. He was 62.

“He’s a close friend of mine. I knew him since 1997 when I got here. Lately, he would always visit me in the afternoons,” said Rolly Querijero.

He said Pabale’s daughter is expected to come to Saipan to fetch her father’s remains.

Pabale came to Saipan in 1992 to work as a purchaser at XO Market. After years with the company, his contract expired on Nov. 30, 2006. However, he asked for a six-month employment extension, which his employer approved. Pabale worked at XO Market until May 2007, according to Nina Reyes, an employee at XO Market.

Reyes said Pabale was with XO Market long before she started working for the same company in 2002.

She said Pabale, after his contract with XO Market expired, was believed to be working for other companies, including Marianas Repair, Misamis Construction and Li Hua Store.

“Up to now, we’re still trying to find out his supposed last employer. We will be surprised to know if after his contract with XO Market expired, he was still able to remain here on Saipan without a legal employer. We’re not aware whether or not he had legal job after he worked with XO Market,” Reyes said in an interview.

She, however, said that should XO Market is determined to be the last legal employer of record, then the company is willing to shoulder the cost of transporting Pabale’s remains back to the Philippines, pay for the casket, and the medical bills.

Reyes said groups or individuals who are also willing to donate money to help defray some of the expenses and to help Pabale’s family could call her at 235-4456 or 235-4458.

Philippine Labor attaché Joann Lourdes Lavilla yesterday said Philippine Consul General in the CNMI Wilfredo DL. Maximo wrote CNMI Labor Secretary Gil San Nicolas on Monday to ask him about Pabale’s last legal employer of record.

“We are still waiting for the Labor secretary’s response,” said Lavilla.

Pabale did not renew his Overseas Workers Welfare Administration membership when it expired in 2007, making his family ineligible to receive life insurance benefits.