ILOILO City – When he visits South Korea next month, President Rodrigo Duterte would be discussing with authorities there the case of slain Ilonggo overseas worker Angelo Claveria of Cabatuan, Iloilo.
According to Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, Duterte will make his first visit to South Korea from June 3 to 5. He and South Korea’s President Moon Jae In will have a summit on June 4.
The leaders will discuss measures to further improve ties.
Go visited Claveria’s wake in Barangay Rizal Ilaya Zone 4, Cabatuan yesterday.
Claveria’s skeletal remains were discovered in a septic tank of a water purifier plant in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi province, South Korea last month, 16 months after he went missing there in January 2016.
President Duterte is aware of the Claveria case and “he wants to bring justice to the family immediately,” said Go.
“Sa tulong ng (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) napauwi natin ‘yung buto. Susunod nating gawin ang hinihiling ng pamilya na mabigyan ng hustisya,” he added.
Go, however, stressed the ball is in the hands of South Korean authorities as Claveria’s case happened there.
The South Korean police’s initial investigation showed Claveria may have been murdered. He was hit with a hard object on the head. A fellow overseas Filipino worker has been tagged a person of interest in the case.
“Sabi ko po waay ko mangako kasi sa Korea nangyari ‘yun pero gagawain po lahat ng goberyno na mabigay ng hustisya ang kamatayan ni Claveria,” said Go.
Yesterday, he gave financial assistance to the Claveria family, “P20,000 galing sa opisina namin and P220,000 check, benefits po niya.”
Claveria’s skeletal remains arrived at the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan around 9:30 a.m. yesterday.
The 34-year-old Marine Transportation graduate went to South Korea in July 2014 to work as a metal cutter. The last time he got in touch with his family was in December 2015.
His worried family sought help from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Consular Office – Iloilo only on Feb. 20 this year.
Claveria took a short one-month vacation to Cabatuan in September 2015. He returned to South Korea the following month and had not communicated to his family since January 2016.
Angelita Claveria said the last time she was able to talk to her son was on Christmas eve of 2015.
He had not mentioned any problem during his brief vacation, the mother said.
The identification and arrest of her son’s killer or killers could, to a certain degree, assuage her family’s pain, said Angelita.
She described her son as “waay gamo nga bata (not a trouble-maker).”/PN
