City’s concern

‘‘The behaviors that the expatriate community sees by the Songcuya family, and Grace Songcuya specifically, is alarming to each expatriate equally: It has the majority of the expatriates (who operate on the concept of trust and camaraderie with the Filipinos they know) wondering what their own adopted Filipino family will do if there ever is a problem, and the minority of the expatriates (who operate on the concept of suspicion and pessimism around all Filipinos) saying ‘I told you so.’ – Jil Wrinkle

Jaraula: Hunt case is Oro govt’s concern
HERBIE GOMEZ – Editor in chief

MAYOR Constantino Jaraula yesterday expressed concern over the Thomas Hunt case. He said he would meet with expats here and would even bring the matter to the attention of the US Embassy in Manila.

‘‘This is definitely city hall’s concern. Everyone should be concerned. This should be the concern of everyone in Cagayan de Oro,’’

said Jaraula.

‘‘It could taint our city’s image and make our women here look like hustlers.’’

Thomas J. Hunt, a diabetic with a brain tumor, died at the Polymedic General Hospital last April 26. He had been in that hospital since late January and wasn’t able to leave because he had no money to pay for his medical bills.

The financial difficulties were felt even after Hunt died. His remains, now at Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes, could not be given a decent burial yet because the unpaid hospital bills prevented the hospital from issuing a death certificate. There is also no money to pay Cosmopolitan for its services and facilities.

His widow, Janelaze Hunt nee Songcuya, is reportedly still in the US where she has stayed even while Mr. Hunt was dying in the hospital.

Jaraula said he would arrange a meeting with some expats and concerned groups in Cagayan de Oro to see how city hall could help.

(The mayor phoned this paper early and asked if it can inform the expats that he can meet them at his office at 10 am yesterday. This paper sent a text message to one of the expats but there was no reply.)

Jaraula said he would also talk to local court worker Grace Songcuya, an aunt of Hunt’s widow.
‘‘If needed, I would bring this matter to the attention of Ambassador (Kristie) Kenney,’’ said Jaraula.

Meanwhile, expats flooded this paper with e-mails after it broke the Hunt story yesterday.

The expatriate community in the city is watching this situation very closely, said Jil Wrinkle in an e-mail sent to this paper.

‘‘We all see ourselves in Thomas Hunt. Unfortunately, what happened with his wife is something that we all have to deal with individually on our own depending on individual relationships and levels of trust and commitment with our wives,’’ he said.

Wrinkle added:

‘‘The behaviors that the expatriate community sees by the Songcuya family, and Grace Songcuya specifically, is alarming to each expatriate equally: It has the majority of the expatriates (who operate on the concept of trust and camaraderie with the Filipinos they know) wondering what their own adopted Filipino family will do if there ever is a problem, and the minority of the expatriates (who operate on the concept of suspicion and pessimism around all Filipinos) saying ‘I told you so.’’’

Songcuya, Janelaze’s aunt, has accused wives of expats of unauthorized solicitations and she has demanded an accounting of the funds that were raised.

But expat Mike Farrell who spoke to The Gold Star Daily the other day and all the expats who sent e-mails to this paper defended the wives’ group called the Expats’ Ladies Charities.

Farrell said the group, led by Daisy Cline, did not deserve Songcuya’s accusation. He said the expats’ wives only decided to help when they saw that Mr. Hunt was not getting the kind of treatment he deserved from Janelaze and her relatives.

He said the group became involved only after a doctor informed an expat that the 72-year old Hunt was in the hospital and he ‘‘had no visitors for a month.’’

Wrinkle said,

‘‘The reason Grace Songcuya ‘never saw a centavo’ is simple: The Expats’ Ladies Charities never gave any money to the Songcuya family for medicines because they were rightly concerned that the money would never be spent on the medicines Mr. Hunt needed. It was widely speculated that money sent by Janelaze to her family for Mr. Hunt’s medications was never spent as it was intended. (Ironically enough, after Mr. Hunt’s passing, the Songcuya family did take his leftover medications that the Expats’ Ladies Charities had purchased and returned them for a cash refund at the pharmacies where they had been purchased.) That is why the Songcuya family ‘never saw a centavo.’’’

Wrinkle said the group bought various vitamins and antibiotics and ointments that Hunt needed at pharmacies outside the hospital where they were cheaper.

For the expensive P5-thousand-per-day drugs that could only be purchased in the hospital, he said, the group never had enough money at any one time to purchase those.

‘‘They were literally raising money in the morning, buying the medications in the afternoon with whatever they raised, and then getting them to Hunt in the evening,’’

said Wrinkle.
He said the wives’ group has all the receipts to show this.

Wrinkle said the group also did not raise funds for a funeral.

Mike Belter said the ladies’ group repeatedly posted reports about the donations, donors, pledges and how the funds were used.

Belter said the expats’ wives went from pharmacy to pharmacy ‘‘to price shop [and] make the money last longer.’’

‘‘I personally am appalled that this aunt (Songcuya) that has not been present for anything should question what a bunch of foreigners do with their money or the charity they support which is a bona fide charity registered here in Cagayan de Oro. Money raised for Mr. Hunt’s care was used for that and that only,’’

said Belter.

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