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Govt urged to look into case of 3 Pinoys on Jeddah death row


MANILA, Philippines - A militant group has urged the Philippine government to investigate the murder conviction of three overseas Filipino workers (OFW) for their involvement in what has become known as the Jeddah “chop-chop" killings two years ago. “All we’re asking for is due process and proper legal counsel for them," Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado told GMANews.TV during a media briefing in Quezon City on Wednesday. Bragas-Regaladao said the does not trust Saudi Arabia’s judicial system. Migrante made the request after an OFW from the southern province of Zamboanga Sibugay was executed by beheading in Saudi Arabia's western city of Jeddah on Tuesday. The beheading victim, identified as Jenifer Bidoya, a.k.a. Venancio Ladion, was convicted for the murder of a Saudi national in the holy city of Makkar (Mecca) in 2005. On September 15, Saudi Arabia’s Court of Appeals was said to have upheld the death sentence imposed by a general court in Jeddah on Edison Gonzales, his brother Rolando, and Eduardo Arcilla for murdering three fellow Filipinos. The four — Victoriano Alfonso, Efren Francisco Dumaun, Omar Basilio, and Joel Sinamban —were convicted of the lesser crime of helping cover up the crime and sentenced to eight years imprisonment and to suffer 1,000 lashes. The appellate court has also affirmed the lower court’s ruling and increased the penalty to 10 years imprisonment and 1,200 lashes. The victims in the case were fellow Filipinos Reno Lumbang, Jeremias Bucod, and Dante Rivero, whose bodies were chopped into pieces and disposed of in different parts of southern Jeddah in April 2006. Regalado said the Philippine government should look into claims by the Gonzales brothers that they were tortured. In previous reports, the Gonzales brothers have been quoted as saying their four colleagues were promised to be spared from death row in exchange for their testimonies against the three. In view of such claims, Regalado of Migrante said the government should provide adequate legal assistance to the accused to ensure that their rights are protected. Regalado also said that all is not what it seems. “We should also look at the social context of how the events happened," she said. ‘All about money’ Court records of the case are not readily available but as earlier reported by the Saudi English-language newspaper Arab News, quoting officials of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, the triple murders stemmed from a rivalry over gambling turf and unpaid debt. In some of the reports, consulate officials were quoted as saying Edison Gonzales and his rival, Reno Lumbang, both came to Saudi Arabia not to find work but to conduct gambling operations. With the exception of Rivero, who is a Batangueňo, all the convicts and victims are from Pampanga, the province of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. All seven accused are from Pandacaqui in Mexico town, while victims Lumbang and Bucod are from Arayat town. According to news reports from Saudi Arabia, Lumbang and his driver Bucod were killed by the Gonzales brothers and Arcilla in the heat of an argument that arose while they were playing cards at a house controlled by Edison Gonzales. Lumbang and his companions later also supposedly killed Dante Rivero to silence a potential witness. The murder of the three surfaced when police found body parts scattered in garbage bins around the city. Acting on a tip, Jeddah police rounded up more than 80 Filipinos for questioning and ended up charging seven in the triple murder case. Police reportedly were able to recover some of the body parts with the help of Alfonso, Dumaun, Basilio, and Sinamban. DNA samples recovered from the body parts later positively matched the samples taken from the relatives of the victims. The crime has been tagged as the "worst crime ever committed by and against Filipinos in Saudi Arabia." Signature campaign Nonetheless, Amnesty International is said to be conducting an online signature campaign to stop the execution of the three Filipinos. Relatives of the Gonzales brothers have also appealed to President Arroyo to intervene in a bid to stop the execution of the three. Several other Filipinos are also on death row in Saudi Arabia, among them Dondon Lanuza who is languishing at a high security prison in the eastern region for killing a Saudi father. Records of the case showed that after a drinking binge with friends one night, Lanuza accompanied the Saudi man to his apartment. Lanuza claimed to have accidentally stabbed the man to death as he tried to defend himself from being raped. Another case being watched by Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia involves two Pinay domestic helpers who allegedly murdered the pregnant wife of their Egyptian employer in Jeddah and stole more than a kilogram of jewelry four years ago. As gathered from sources at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the two maids sought refuge at the OWWA shelter inside the Philippine Consulate General but were later discovered after they flaunted their loot, even sharing part of it to other runaway OFWs. The consulate was reportedly compelled to surrender the duo when the Saudi diplomatic police came to arrest them. Negotiations are going on for the payment of “diyah" or blood money to the husband of the victim to save them from death row, the source said. - GMANews.TV
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