DFA asked to help Pinoy in NY ‘battle’

She has heard him and she is responding to his need.

Although the Office of the President has not received a formal request for assistance from former long-haul bus driver Cesar Gabriel, President Arroyo has referred Gabriel’s problem to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Gabriel has appealed to the President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople for assistance in obtaining a third visa extension so he can remain in the United States and finish his legal battle for custody of his daughters Yvonne, 8, and Lucky Angel or LA, 5.

Gabriel’s plea to the President and Ople was carried in a front page article of The STAR on Monday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said yesterday that the Palace has taken action on Gabriel’s plea even as the President has yet to receive a formal letter requesting assistance from Gabriel.

"The President, I’m sure, has not formally received any request," Bunye said, adding that Gabriel’s need for a third visa extension "would be referred to the DFA for appropriate action. But we will have to wait for the DFA to submit its recommendations."

Gabriel, in his interview with The STAR over the weekend, expressed fears that he may lose the custody battle at the Commack Surrogate Court in New York by default if he is forced to leave the US when his visa expires.

Gabriel entered the US on a tourist visa on Nov. 29 last year, after the International Red Cross (IRC) sponsored his plane ticket to the Big Apple. He has succeeded in having his visa extended twice, but the next court hearing on the custody case may take place at the end of October. Gabriel’s visa expires on Nov. 29.

Gabriel’s common-law wife, Benilda Domingo, died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC). The girls were staying with Benilda’s brother, Tansing, in Hawaii after Benilda put them in Tansing’s care in September 2000 before she proceeded to her new job in New York.

When the WTC attack happened, Benilda’s sister, Melita Domingo-Carr and Melita’s husband, Brendan Carr, fetched the girls from Tansing’s home and brought them to Commack, New York on the pretext that the girls were to await news of their mother’s fate with the Carrs so they would be on hand when Benilda’s remains were found. No traces of Benilda have yet been recovered from Ground Zero.

Jun Ullegue, Gabriel’s neighbor and close friend in Laoag City, earlier told The STAR he suspects the Carrs sued for custody of the Gabriel girls because they want control of the reported cash remuneration of $100,000 given to each child of 9-11 attack victims.

Besides the cash remuneration, each dependent of a WTC attack fatality will receive educational benefits up to college and monthly allowances. Whoever has legal custody and control of dependents of WTC attack victims who are minors has control over the funds they receive from the US government.

Gabriel may send a formal letter requesting assistance from Mrs. Arroyo to the Office of the President at Malacañang or from Ople at the DFA building on Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.