The 64-year old immigration consultant Jay Razon drowned in a boating accident at Barnet Marine Park in Burnaby on Thursday, March 29. (Facebook photo)

Vancouver, B.C.

Updated: 7PM, March 31, 2019

Drowning victim was popular among Filipinos

By Ted Alcuitas

“Napakabait sa mga basketball players niya,”  was howTom Choy remembers Jay Razon who died in a tragic drowning accident last Thursday (March 29) Indian Arm at Barnet Marine Park in Burnaby.

The incident happened Thursday at 2:15 p.m., when an inflatable  kayak capsized in the Indian Arm at Barnet Marine Park, according to police.

His body was located about an hour later. It is not clear if he was wearing a life jacket says the Maple Ridge -Pitt Meadows News.

Razon on a Philippine vacation in a kayak. (Facebook)

Choy recalled how Razon, who loves crabbing, hosted visiting Philippine Women Softball team in the summer of 2017 at the same park where he died Thursday.

“He volunteered to drive the players around and hosted a barbecue at Barnet Marine Park where he took his rubber dinghy to sea to catch a couple of crabs,” Choy told philippinecanadiannews.com (PCN.com). 

“He was a good swimmer,” Choy added saying he was saddened  to hear of his death.

Police did not release the name of Razon but friends began posting in their Facebook pages following the news.

A friend, Lhord Mac, posted on Facebook after Razon’s death:

“For the past few months he had tried to help Filipino immigrants achieve work but the Philippine Embassy shut him down. As for my observations, this devastated him a lot.
Jay Razon has been misunderstood by a lot of people, he is a happy go lucky guy, easy to approach, really cocky on the basketball court, Love to be the centre of any conversation, honest, and I have never seen him get mad.”

The 64-year old father was a native of Lemery, Batangas and came to the U.S. 1986 where he worked as a civil engineer and a nurse before moving to Canada in the early 2000. 

Razon wore many hats including as a DJ, a basketball coach, a renovation entrepreneur and at the time of his death, an immigration consultant.

Razon was an accomplished DJ. (Lhord Mac photo, Facebook)

His firm, Harvard Immigration,  run into trouble with complaints from former clients and was blacklisted by  Philippine authorities allegedly for unethical practices. He denied the allegations and said he was not given “due process’ by the  authorities.

No funeral arrangements has been known at the time of posting.