Press Release
July 27, 2009

FAMILIES OF AFGHANISTAN CRASH VICTIMS SHOULD NOT SHORTCHANGED OF INSURANCE BENEFITS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the government to take the cudgels for the families of 10 overseas Filipino workers who perished in a helicopter crash at a military facility in Afghanistan in the face of reports that an American insurance giant is offering them insurance benefits that are much less than they are legally entitled to.

Pimentel urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take up in her July 30 meeting with United States President Barack Obama the complaints of the families of the casualties of the air accident that the insurer, AIG company, has offered to pay them insurance benefits of a maximum of $24,000 per victim only, instead of $300,000 that they are supposed to get.

He said he learned about this matter during his recent visit to Los Angeles, California.

"I think Mrs. Arroyo should seek the intercession of President Obama. We should not allow our overseas Filipino workers to be discriminated against in the grant of the insurance benefits," the minority leader said.

Pimentel said the President should also ask Mr. Obama to allow the entry and employment of at least 20,000 Filipino nurses in the US on an annual basis.

He said he was informed that the US will need about one million nurses over the next 10 years and the government should take steps to avail of such job opportunities by securing such quota for Filipino nurses

Pimentel said government should likewise assist the nurses in securing US visa in the wake of the common belief that they are being made to pay huge amount of money by recruiters and travel agencies for the travel document.

He said that during the White House meeting, Mrs. Arroyo should tell Obama that the US should concentrate on extending humanitarian assistance to displaced and disadvantaged families and the rehabilitation of the conflict areas in Mindanao and to refrain from taking part in military operations against terrorists in the island.

Pimentel added that Mrs. Arroyo should convey the prevailing sentiments of Filipinos that they are against any plan to transfer to the Philippines any of the high-risks terrorist prisoners from the US Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

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