Category Archives: OFWs

Suspect Arrested in Laoagan Case

From cbc.ca: A man has been arrested and is being questioned by Calgary police in connection with the murder of a woman whose badly mutilated body was found last week near a Calgary LRT station.

Police are questioning a man in connection with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, who was found dead near the Franklin LRT station last week.Police are questioning a man in connection with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, who was found dead near the Franklin LRT station last week.

In a news conference held late Thursday, Insp. Guy Slater said charges had not been laid in the death of Arcelie Sombrito de Laoagan.

“What we’re trying to determine now is the role this man played in the homicide,” said Slater, quoted in the Calgary Sun.
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Arcelie Laoagan Updates

About the photo: Members of the Full Gospel Church of Calgary are devastated by her death. (Photo credit: Canada.com)

The Calgary Herald, 24 January: Police have officially identified the city’s latest homicide victim as a Filipina mother of five working in Calgary to support her family back home.

Arcelie Sombrito de Laoagan, 41, was last seen Thursday night, her final movements caught in surveillance camera footage. Investigators believe she got onto the LRT at the 8th Street S.W. station and disembarked at the Franklin station.

They are asking for anyone who may have seen her on the northeast leg of the McKnight-Westwinds C-Train between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. to contact them. Laoagan’s body was found early Friday morning on a well-travelled path near the Franklin station. Her purse is still missing.

The homicide prompted police to warn women to be more cautious, stay in busy, well-lit areas and to call 911 if they feel threatened.

A memorial for Laoagan is set for tonight at 7 p.m. at Calgary Full Gospel Church – 917 – 14th Ave. S.W.
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Arcelie Laoagan: Link Roundup

Our first post on this tragedy is here. Meanwhile, here’s a roundup of news reports on the murder of Arcelie Laoagan.

Edmonton Sun, 20 January: Friends of a missing Filipina woman working two jobs in Calgary to support her family in her homeland suspect she’s the victim found dead behind a southeast Calgary church.

Arcelie Laoagan, 40, was reported missing by her roommate when she didn’t return home after leaving work at West Canadian at 10 p.m. Thursday.

The blood-soaked body of a woman matching Laoagan’s description was found at 6 a.m. Friday behind the Grace Baptist Church.
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Arcelie Laoagan, 2008

This is really bad news. We tend to think that Canada is one of the safest countries in the world but this incident, on top of the earlier murder of Jocelyn Dulnuan, isn’t very reassuring. Here’s a report from the Inquirer on the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, a kailiyan who migrated to Calgary.

Another Cordilleran murdered in Canada — report
By Vincent Cabreza

Another Cordilleran has been reported murdered in Canada. Canadian newspapers reported this week that the “blood soaked body” of Arcelie Laoagan, 40, had been found by subway train workers on Friday behind a church in Calgary, Alberta.

Anthony Basil, Cordillera case officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said Laoagan, a native of Sagada, Mt. Province, was the second migrant worker to fall victim to a crime in Canada in recent months.

Ifugao-born immigrant Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27, was murdered in a plush neighborhood of Mississauga City last October 1. Police have arrested two Latin American immigrants for the murder.

“We now have to address two fatalities from Sagada. We just received home [the body of Sagada native Zennia Aguilan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan],” Basil said. The OWWA is awaiting feedback from the country’s foreign office in Canada.

Laoagan was reported missing on January 17 when she failed to return home. According to an online report of the Calgary Herald, she called friends when she was apparently attacked.
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Zennia Aguilan Updates

She’s home. From ABS-CBN: The remains of a Filipina spa supervisor who was killed in a suicide attack at a luxury hotel in Afghanistan arrived in Manila Saturday evening. The body of Zennia Aguilan arrived 10:35 p.m. via Emirates flight EK 334. Her remains were met by her two siblings. They however declined to give any statement. Read the full article here.

Sagada folk condemn Afghanistan bombing. From Bulatlat.com: While residents of Sagada, Mountain Province (275 km north of Manila) mourn for the death of a community member in a suicide bombing incident in Afghanistan on Jan. 14, they condemn the bombing incident as inhuman and at the same time criticized the labor export policy of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a “push factor” for health professionals. Read the rest here.

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