Case of 3 OFWs in Saudi death row reopened

MANILA, Philippines - The families of three Filipinos in death row in Saudi Arabia on Friday sought the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) after learning that their case had been re-opened despite the payment of blood money to the victims’ families.

Rosanna Gonzales, Marlene Gonzales and Mila Arcilla went to the DFA office in Manila to bring to the attention of the authorities the plight of their husbands, who are still languishing in jail in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia three years after the victims agreed to the payment of blood money and the issuance of tanazul or the affidavit of forgiveness.

Edison Gonzales, his brother Roland, and Eduardo Arcilla, all from Pampanga, were sentenced to death in July 2007 by a Jeddah General Shari’ah Court after they were found guilty of killing and chopping off the body parts of fellow Filipinos Dante Rivero and his two friends, Reno Lumbang and Jeremias Bucod sometime in April 2006.

In 2009, blood money was given to the families of the slain victims through the intercession of Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto. The blood money was given by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to the victims’ heirs.

As a result, the execution of the three Filipinos stayed.

However, Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ezzedine Tago confirmed that the case of the convicted Filipinos had undergone a retrial.