POEA vows to make amends to Aguilar

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine post in Qatar was not informed by Qatar authorities that they had in custody Jason Aguilar, the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was mistakenly identified as Jason Ivler, a wanted road rage suspect in Manila.

"We were not informed. In fact, we made an inquiry about the incident. On January 6, we received an inquiry from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) inquiring whether a certain Jason Ivler, in fact, it's not Aguilar, Jason Ivler was arrested in Qatar,” said Philippine Ambassador to Qatar, Cresente Relacion.

Relacion was on vacation when the DFA inquired about the alleged arrest of Ivler by Qatar authorities. Fugitive Ivler is a suspect in the tragic shooting of Renato Victor Ebarle Jr. on November 18, 2009.

He said the embassy’s officer-in-charge, Consul Jabbar Adiong, instructed staff from the Assistance to Nationals to inquire from the immigration and police but reportedly got negative replies.

The ambassador explained that “in general, [Qatar] they would not inform the country of that national about the arrest except if the country has a bilateral consular agreement”.

Relacion said that they are sorry about the incident. The embassy has yet to file a formal protest because they just learned of Aguilar’s case just recently. Aguilar was detained on December 31 and deported on Thursday.

“We have not done that because we just came to know through the reports. It’s a weekend here. I understand Jason Aguilar was deported yesterday. And we only came to know about the situation today,” he explained.

He assured that the embassy will immediately send a note on why authorities in Qatar did not inform the post about Aguilar.

Blacklist S.O.P

Meanwhile, he said that it is a standard procedure to place a person’s name in the country’s blacklist if he has committed a crime.

“Ili-lift yan once we, the embassy, would write the Qatari authorities that it is a case of mistaken identity,” he said.

He added: “We are working now. In fact, we are inquiring from the authorities here whether he could be redeployed, reinstated to his former work” and that his name be lifted from the blacklist.

Relacion said that it’s a straightforward process, and what they need now are the documents from Manila’s Interpol stating that it was a case of mistaken identity.

“Once we receive that, we will send a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar and he would be subsequently cleared,” he said.

POEA vows to make amends

In the meantime, Jennifer Manalili, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) assured that Aguilar would be getting assistance from the labor department and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Manalili said that the labor secretary already called the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to get Aguilar’s name off the watch list.

The POEA chief said OWWA personnel already talked to Aguilar, who is still traumatized with what happened to him.

“When we asked him kung gusto pa niyang magtrabaho ulit sa abroad, mukhang hindi siya handa. Ang aming intervention sa kanya sa ngayon through OWWA would be psychosocial counseling, stress debriefing. Nakikita po natin na very traumatic yung experience,” Manalili said.

Manalili added that they also coordinated with Aguilar’s agency. She said the agency is willing to extend help to the OFW should he decide to look another employment abroad.

“Next week po, kakausapin namin yung agency so that mapagusapan po ng maayos kung ano po yung possible assistance kung gusto pa niyang magtrabaho abroad kasi that would entail po payment of placement fee, kung pwede hong i-waive yun at ano pa hong mga bagay,” she said.

While still undecided, Aguilar, she said, could avail of a loan or grant or livelihood assistance from the OWWA to earn income while undergoing counseling. ANC’s Top Story