21 July 2005 – Philippine Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Bahnarim A. Guinomla reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that for the first half of 2005, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has been able to settle eight compensation claims (blood money) of families and heirs of OFWs.

Ambassador Guinomla said that persistent efforts by the Embassy’s Assistance-to-Nationals Section resulted in 440,100 Saudi Riyals worth of claims being paid out in settlement of these claims.

Included in these eight cases, Ambassador Guinomla reported, is the claim for compensation of the widow of a Filipino mechanic who was killed in a vehicular accident on 23 August 1988 in a lonely stretch of highway from Taif to Riyadh.

The payment of the Shariah law-prescribed diyah or blood money for non-Muslims to the legal heir of the deceased Filipino was secured through the consistent representations of the Embassy’s ATN section, acting on Ambassador Guinomla’s instructions.  On 25 June 2005 Presiding Judge Abdullah al-Murshed of a court in Durma, KSA ordered the release of the blood money, which had been deposited at the court’s treasury house for eventual remittance to the heirs of the OFW.

The deceased OFW was employed as a mechanic by the Al-Tawala Transport Company.  At the time of the accident, the Filipino was riding in a Volvo truck driven by his Thai colleague, when their vehicle collided with another Volvo truck.  Both drivers of the two trucks were held equally responsible for the mishap, as reported by police authorities.  This decision merited the payment of blood money to whoever is the heir of the Filipino, who died as a result of the accident.

Ambassador Guinomla assured the DFA that the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh will consistently exert all efforts to follow up similar pending cases with the relevant Saudi authorities and extend all forms of necessary assistance to Filipinos under their jurisdiction with equal zeal and commitment.  END