Slain OFW in Bahrain dreamt of death
Iloilo City -- Dreams do come true, be it happy or sad.
"We just brushed it aside because it was just a dream," or so thought Edna Aboboto, the mother of an Overseas Filipino Worker who died in Bahrain last week.
Thirty-one year old Queenie Aboboto-Dungca was one of the four Filipinos who died when Al Dana, a floating restaurant/tourist boat capsized in the Persian Gulf last March 31, Friday (Philippine time).
"She told me that she dreamt that she will be dying soon," recalled Aboboto. "But I told her not to say things like that."
That telephone conversation, Aboboto recalled, took place sometime February or January this year, shortly after Dungca left for the Middle Eastern country for, as the cliché goes, greener pastures.
"I did not give any attention. We just brushed it aside because it was just a dream. We didn't thought much of it," the mother said.
When asked what she felt now that her daughter is gone, Aboboto's answer was a straight one, "well, we are grieving."
Aboboto observed that in the days leading to her daughter's death, she had been constantly praying that her daughter would be okay and safe. "I was constantly asking God that my daughter be placed in a good condition."
The last time they talked was Monday, March 27.
She sounded very happy because there were a lot of customers, which means more than the usual amount of tip, Dungca's mother recalled.
Dungca, according to her mother, worked as a supervisor in the restaurant. She took the job after resigning as in-house tutor for a Bahraini family because the latter was 'harsh' on her.
Dungca went on leave from the Permits and Licensing Division of the Iloilo City Hall for greener pastures January this year.
After she left her first job, she initially decided to go home. She changed her mind when the agency charged them P200,000 for the trip back home for her and her two companions who also wanted to go home.
"Anyway, since I'm already here, I might as well make the most out of it," Aboboto quoted what Dungca told her.
And so the placement agency got her a job as supervisor in the floating restaurant.
Dungca left behind a three-year-old son, Jules Archangel.
When The News Today visited their home yesterday morning, he was watching cartoons.
During the interview, Jules interrupted by saying, "shhhh!"
"He said Jesus took his mother to heaven," Aboboto said, referring to Jules.
Jules had asked his mother to buy him toy soldiers and toy guns.
But in the days to come, the balikbayan box would be containing more than toy soldiers and bang bang (Jules' word for toy guns).
Aboboto said that her daughter worked as an OFW for Jules.
"She left for Bahrain for him," Aboboto said.
Jules' father, Julius, left them shortly after Dungca gave birth.
Nothing was heard of him ever since.
"She has been the one taking care of Jules eversince," Aboboto said of Dungca.
"He gave not one cent for the child's needs," Aboboto added, referring to Jule's father.