Death of 4 Pinoy Workers Devastates Filipino Community In Calgary

by ALEX P. VIDAL

BURNABY, British Columbia – The death of four Filipino temporary workers in a car mishap in Edmonton on March 4 has devastated the Filipino community in Calgary.

“We are still at loss on how to accept the sad news and we continue to mourn until today,” said Rachelle Antiojo, a hotel worker in Edmonton.

Erlinda Mamora, a nanny, said she was a friend of one of the four saying “she could not come to terms” realizing how brutal was their death when a suspected drunk driver rammed their vehicle in a head-on collision on the QE II Highway.

Antiojo and Mamora said the whole community continued to mourn “like we lost four members of our own family.”

They were among the hundreds of members of Edmonton’s Filipino community that gathered March 12 night to celebrate the lives of victims — Anthony Subong Castillon, 35, Joey Flores Mangonon, 35, Eden Dalu Biazon, 39, and Josefina Flores Velarde, 52 — all temporary foreign workers from the Philippines.

SURVIVOR

Three of the four worked at Edmonton’s Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel as did Josephine Gaila Tamondong, 28, the lone survivor who was still confined in hospital.

Friends and co-workers reportedly squeezed between the pews inside the chapel, spilling out into the south Edmonton funeral home.

“They’re the ones who started the joy, the laughter in the morning,” said co-worker Rossel Macapagal. “They boost our morale every day, every morning.”

They dreamed of one day bringing their families to join them in Canada, he said.

Few family members were able to attend the service, but they are still heard, as letters from Joey Mangonon’s wife and eldest daughter were read out, reported the CBCnews Calgary.

LETTER

“Daddy, for me you are not gone,” one letter said. “For you will always live in my heart. I will always be Daddy Joey’s little girl.”

Josefina Velarde was proud to find work in Canada, so she could send money back to her family in the Philippines, said her cousin Teresa Miflores.

“She’s a person with a good heart,” said Miflores. “She’s a very beautiful person in and out.” /MP