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Mother of OFW death convict seeks Aquino’s help


ROXAS, Isabela – The aging mother of one of the three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) facing death sentence in Saudi Arabia for killing a fellow Filipino has appealed to President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III to save her son’s life. Rita Gaspar, 73 years old and mother of death convict Victorino Gaspar Jr., appealed to Aquino to intercede in her son’s behalf and seek favorable legal action to spare him from death row. "He is a very good person. He has been trained a good man," she added. Victorino and his colleagues Paul Miquibas and Edgardo Genetiano were found guilty of murder with robbery by the Jizan General Shari'ah Court (trial court) on a vote of 3-2 by a committee of five judges on April 6. [See: DFA appeals case of 3 OFWs on KSA death row] They were sentenced to suffer ta'azeeran qati, or death that cannot be settled by payment of blood money. The three were convicted for the murder of Raymundo Dimaculangan, another OFW from Laguna, after stealing his SR32,000 (P394,740) which he borrowed from a bank, on April 15, 2008. Victorino’s 54-year-old wife, Marcelina, said she had suffered with her husband in jail for more than two years, during which she suffered such illnesses as breast cancer, appendicitis and diabetes. With Victorino unable to work, Marcelina said their only sources of income were the daily boundary payment for a tricycle they own and a small farm lot planted with rice. Consul General Ezzedin Tago of the Philippine post in Saudi Arabia earlier said the legal counsel of the three Filipinos, hired from the Law Office of Abdullah Al Johani, filed an appeal before the Jizan General Court on July 4. The Philippine government may also seek a tanazul or letter of forgiveness from the family of the victim to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. in a text message to GMANews.TV belied rumors that the Dimaculangan family has already issued a tanazul for the three convicted Filipinos. — Jerrie Abella and Joel Nueva/LBG, GMANews.TV

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