Saudi man killed by OFW from a conservative clan

MANILA, Philippines — The top Philippine diplomat in western Saudi Arabia on Saturday said the government had done everything to save Venancio Ladion’s life but the executed OFW’s Saudi victim came from a “very conservative" family that wanted only retribution. “Hindi nagpabaya, sa tingin ko, ang ating gobyerno … Pero ang alam ko, ang pamilya ng biktima ay galing sa isang conservative na pamilya (from what I know, the victim came from a very conservative family here and they are a big family belonging to several tribes," Consul General Ezzedin Tago said in an interview with Vice President Noli De Castro that was broadcast over a radio station in Manila. Tago clarified that that there was confusion over the identity of the overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who he said was really Venancio Ladion, but who used the alias Jenifer Bidoya, not the other way around as earlier reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). He confirmed that Ladion, who was from Zamboanga Sibugay province in Mindanao, had a homosexual relationship with the Saudi man, whom he killed in the holy city of Makkah or Mecca on December 6, 2005. The DFA had said Ladion was 27 at the time of his execution. Answering questions by De Castro, Tago also confirmed that Ladion not only stabbed the Saudi man on the neck with a pen and strangled him with a shower cord, but also bit the man’s penis. “From what I heard, they had a relationship … at ayaw na ni Ladion (and Ladion had had enough), and that’s when he bit the man’s penis," he said. Ladion reportedly hid after killing the man but was arrested ten days later by Saudi intelligence agents. Charged with murder, he was subsequently sentenced by the Grand Court of Jeddah to die by the sword. The sentence was affirmed by the Tameez Court (Court of Appeals) and later by the Supreme Judicial Council (Supreme Court) in April 21, 2008. While claiming that the Philippine government “did everything on all fronts," Tago admitted that the consulate hired a lawyer to defend Ladion only when the case reached the Court of Appeals. In the lower court level, he said, Ladion was accompanied only by a translator. Tago said that in addition to hiring a lawyer to appeal the death sentence, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and Consulate General in Jeddah made representations and wrote appeal letters to key officials, including the emir of Makkah, the governor of Jeddah, and the minister of interior. Moreover, he said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wrote two letters to King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz Al-Saud on December 6, 2007 and on July 7, 2008 requesting clemency for Ladion. “On the family side, we tried to get their forgiveness or tanazul dahil ang mga murder case dito ay mayroon public at private rights (because here a murder case constitutes public and private rights). He said the victim’s family was “approached on different stages"but “ they insisted on their rights under Shariah law for retribution." De Castro, who is also President Arroyo’s point man for OFW affairs, said he was told by DFA officials that the Saudi courts did not give much credence to the defense’s argument that the killing of the Saudi man was not intentional. He said that the courts repeatedly pointed to Ladion’s act of stabbing and straggling the victim after biting his penis as indefensible. De Castro said the case should also serve as a warning to OFWs in the Middle East to be careful because homosexual acts are strictly forbidden in the Middle East. - GMANews.TV