The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan has facilitated the granting of financial assistance to the relatives of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who died while onboard a Taiwanese vessel in June.

According to MECO chairman Silvestre Bello III, the agency ensured that the appropriate assistance due to the family was released immediately.

That included the insurance benefit of 1.5 million New Taiwanese dollar (P2.639 million) as well as the death benefit worth P100,000, burial assistance worth P20,000 and a livelihood grant worth P15,000, which came from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Another P30,000 in financial assistance from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will also be given to the family, DMW Labor Attaché in Kaohsiung David Des Dicang said.

"We condole with the family of our deceased OFW," Bello also said.

The remains of the 28-year-old OFW, who was a fisherman employed by a Taiwanese fishing company, was also repatriated on Sept. 14, almost three months after the death on June 30.

The repatriation took time as "there was a delay in the processing of the required documentation from concerned agencies due to the misspelled family name in the birth certificate of the OFW," Dicang said.

The successive typhoons that hit Manila and Taiwan also contributed to the delay, he added.

Expenses were covered the Taiwanese employer, the owner of Taiwan flag vessel Hua Shan Vessel no. 301, and Kuaijie Manpower Dispatch Co.Ltd, according to Dicang.

Bello said the case was the first recorded death of an OFW in the jurisdiction of its Kaohsiung field office in southern Taiwan.