KATHLEEN ANN ILAGAN VIRAY: Is justice to remain only an illusion?

KATHLEEN ANN ILAGAN VIRAY: Is justice to remain only an illusion?

 By Belarmino Dabalos Saguing

The family of an overseas Filipino worker from Butuan city who died in Bahrain   three months ago is still asking for an investigation to give justice and shed light on her death.

According to Philippine Embassy reports, Kathleen Ann Viray Ilagan, 31, who worked as a pastry chef, was found dead inside the embassy shelter on April 8, 2013.

Her death was ruled a suicide with the Bahrain police and the embassy saying she had hung herself from doorknob at the back of the shelter.  

But the late Kathleen’s mother Helena Virginia Viray, who has written President Benigno Aquino III, said: “The written reports we got from the embassy together with the other documents they gave us created more doubts than answers. Only a formal investigation would give us the answers we need and we hope that our request for justice into my daughter’s death would not feel on deaf ears.”

Mrs. Helena Virginia Viray explained her  doubt on the reports that her daughter killed herself, Viray said: “There was no formal investigation; the embassy quickly facilitated the return of my daughter’s body even before an autopsy can be made. How can they have concluded her cause of death with just a shallow preliminary investigation? There was no motive behind her so-called suicide. In fact she was very eager to come back home and be with us and her three children.”

Viray said she suspects a cover-up in her daughter’s death.

“I hope the President would look into this to give justice to my daughter and also to other OFWs who would fall victim to such situation. She went to the embassy believing they would shelter her from harm yet they were powerless in protecting her. They (embassy) did not even bother to contact us after or even shared more valuable information to alleviate our concerns and questions,” she added further.

She said they have tried several times to communicate with the Philippine embassy in Bahrain through email and telephone calls but their queries and requests for further proof, such as photos of where her daughter was supposedly found, have been left unanswered.

And in soliodarity to Kathleen and her family, the OFW community around the world asks

Is justice to remain only an illusion?

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