The SUN HK : Suicide victim’s family to get payout from insurance

31 July 2019

Welfare Officer Virsie Tamayao

By The SUN

The family of a Filipina domestic worker who took her own life due to stress over financial problems stands to get more than Php600,000 from her mandatory insurance coverage plus death benefits from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

That’s because the 40-year-old victim was a first-time overseas Filipino worker, and was still covered by the two-year mandatory insurance, and was an active OWWA member.

Her two-year contract would have lapsed this coming September.

According to Welfare Officer Virsie Tamayao, OWWA benefits cover death by suicide because stress is considered as a health-related concern of OFWs.

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The compulsory insurance, which first-time OFWs are obliged to take before leaving the Philippines, appears to have been patterned after the OWWA coverage.

In a Q&A posted on the website of the Philippine Insurance Commission, item no 12 states categorically that suicide is covered under the “Agency Hired OFW Compulsory Insurance.”

The Q&A further states that the “the usual 2-year contestability period in insurance contracts is not applicable for the Agency-Hired OFW Compulsory Insurance.” This means that once the worker is deployed, he or she is automatically insured for death by suicide within two years.

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The victim, who was single, plunged to her death on Jul 22 from her employer’s flat at Manhattan Hill residential tower in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, exactly one week after another Filipina apparently committed suicide in Cheung Sha Wan.

Officers said the victim was already dead when they arrived and there were no suspicious circumstances involved. They said her death was related to monetary problems and debt.

Tamayao, citing Consulate records, confirmed that the victim was apparently troubled by debt.

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A public viewing of her remains has been set for Sunday, Aug 4. The body will be flown to her hometown in Quezon province the next day.

Commenting on the tragedy, outgoing Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre said in a Facebook post: “There’s not much we can do because those are extremely personal decisions.

“But if you know of any friend or relative suffering from depression, you may reach out to the Good Samaritan,” he added, in reference to a Hong Kong NGO that provides telephone advice to people suffering from depression.

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