Pinay maid’s remains home from Canada

The 27-year-old Filipina housemaid found dead inside her employer’s mansion in Ontario, Canada more than two weeks ago is finally home.

The remains of Jocelyn Dulnuan arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) before noon on a Korean Airlines flight and were immediately brought to the Funeraria Nacional in Quezon City in preparation for the trip to her hometown in Ifugao.

Dulnuan’s widower Sandy, mother Godeliva, sisters Maricris and Glory, and other relatives received her remains. With Dulnuan’s family were government officials led by Foreign Affairs executive director Crescente Relacion. Dulnuan left a four-year-old daughter.

Representatives of rights group Migrante International joined the victim’s family at NAIA and called on the Arroyo administration to act on Dulnuan’s case.

The victim, a criminology graduate, had been working in Canada for almost a year when found dead in her employer’s palatial residence in Mississauga last Oct. 1. Canadian police are looking at foul play although they have yet to release details of the investigation.

“The mother is very emotional now. The family wants justice,” Migrante chairperson Connie Regalado told The STAR.

“Migrante Ontario and two other groups in Canada are working hard to push the Philippine consulate into pursuing an investigation. There was no forced entry,” she said, expressing belief that Dulnuan was murdered.

Migrante said reports indicated that Jocelyn had told her husband over the phone of threats to her life. No other details of the conversation were available.

“We reiterate the assertion that the Arroyo government must play an active role in ensuring that Jocelyn’s killers are brought to justice,” Regalado said.

“All legal and diplomatic avenues should be exerted so that her death does not become another statistic in a list of unsolved murder cases,” she added.

Records show that Dulnuan arrived in Canada in November 2006 from Hong Kong. She was working for physician Dr. Jayshree Chanchlani and her wealthy software developer husband Vasdev Chanchlani at the time of her death.

“We empathize greatly with Jocelyn’s family and the family of many other OFW victims of foul play that until today remain unsolved. It is indeed tragic that while their loved ones were forced to work overseas because of simple dreams of a better life, they die brutal deaths that remain unsolved,” Regalado said.

Migrante said there have been 23 cases of unsolved murders of Filipinos abroad since 2002. Most of the victims were domestic workers. 

DFA’s  Relacion said the government is doing its best to help identify and prosecute Dulnuan’s killers. – With Jose Rodel Clapano

“The investigation is not yet finished. Toronto authorities would not disclose details until they’re complete. It’s standard operating procedure so as not to jeopardize the investigation,” he said.

“But they are definitely working on it. Our consul general Alejandro Mosquera is in direct contact with the investigator handling the case,” he said.