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shows Melody Albano Castro, the Filipina caretaker who died in the 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan. The Department of Labor and Employment said yesterday her family will receive benefits not only from the Philippine government but also from Taiwanese authorities.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III assured the family of the female Filipino caretaker killed in the 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan of compensation although she was an “inactive” member of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Bello said yesterday that the family of Melody Albano Castro of Abulog, Cagayan will receive benefits not only from the Philippine government but from also from Taiwanese authorities.

“She is not an active member of OWWA but for humanitarian reason, her family will receive death benefits amounting to P200,000 and livelihood assistance of P50,000. There will also be scholarship for her children, if there is any,” he said.

If the child is in elementary, P10,000 in annual support will be given by OWWA; P15,000 a year if the child is in high school and P20,000 annually if in college.

Bello added the family will also get Taiwan $15,000 in “incompulsory insurance” from Taiwan and some Taiwan $500,000 in insurance taken by her Japanese employer.

The local government of Hualien where Albano died during the tremor, will also give Taiwan $100,000 in assistance for the family.

Bello had called on overseas Filipino workers to make sure that they are actively enrolled in OWWA so they could avail themselves of its full assistance.

“It is important that you are a member of OWWA or that your membership is active because if anything happens, you will get higher compensation,” Bello maintained.

Meanwhile, Manila Economic and Cultural Office chairman Lito Banayo said his office is coordinating with Taiwanese authorities for the speedy issuance of a death certificate and immediate return of the remains of the Filipina killed in the earthquake that hit Taiwan last Tuesday night.

Banayo told Bombo Radyo Dagupan in a phone interview yesterday that they would discuss with the family of Albano if they would like to go to Taiwan and bring home her body or let Philippine officials send the cadaver to Cagayan.

He said a closet fell on Albano when the tremor hit and prevented her from going out of the building in Hualien, Taiwan where she worked as caretaker.

Ten people, including Albano, have died in the earthquake.

Banayo said the Philippine government will provide proper compensation to Albano’s bereaved family.

He said there are about 143,000 Filipinos in Taiwan, some 1,400 of them working in Hualien.

Banayo, who was in Taipei during the interview, said aftershocks of about Intensity four have been recorded but Taiwanese authorities have ensured that the residents have been evacuated to a safer place.

He added that the Philippine labor attache and his assistant visited different factories and coordinated with Taiwan authorities to find out if other Filipinos were injured but fortunately there were none.

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday offered prayers for Albano.

Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI) said Albano exemplifies the true overseas Filipino worker – one who is committed to her profession and always willing to serve.

Castro “was true to her profession, (she) died working, (and) she being and caring for her employers. She represents the true face of OFWs: always ready and able to serve, to do what entrusted to them whatever be the cost,” said Santos.

Santos also assured the Taiwanese people that the CBCP-ECMI prays for them during this tragic moment in their country.

“Our prayers and holy masses here are being offered to the people of Taiwan. We are one with them in this moment of sorrow and great loss,” he said.