It’s a fiasco that nobody wants to happen.
The family of 53-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Fernando Peralta, who died of a heart attack in Israel, were shocked when they saw that the body that had been sent back to the Philippines was actually the remains of another person.
“Jose said the family of the deceased OFW informed the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv on June 4 that the body was not his,” reports Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The body turned out to be that of a Chinese man identified as Zhang Jun Yao from Pudong, China, which arrived on Jun 4 via Thai Airways.
From the airport, the body had been transported to Peralta’s family in Porac, Pampanga.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Charles Jose said it was the first time that the agency encountered such an issue.
He explained that the funeral parlor “has assumed responsibility” for the mix-up. “The DFA had no shortcomings,” Jose said in a Tue, Jun 7, press briefing.
Eventually, the Philippine embassy in Israel sorted things out and Peralta’s correct remains have already been sent to his family in Pampanga.
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