SAUDI ARABIA: ‘BLOOD MONEY’ RESCUES DOOMED FILIPINO FROM EXECUTION

An overseas Filipino worker who has languished on death row in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade has been saved from execution with the Saudi government’s shouldering nearly P25 million in blood money for his victim’s family, the kingdom’s embassy in Manila said.
The embassy said the Saudi government paid 2.3 million riyals in blood money that Rodelio Celestino Lanuza was supposed to pay to the heirs of Mohammad bin Said Al-Qathani, whom the Filipino killed in self-defense in 2000.
The amount covered the balance of 3 million riyals (P32.54 million) left after Lanuza’s family paid an initial 700,000 riyals (P7.6 million).
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) welcomed the development and thanked the Saudi Arabian government for the “humanitarian gesture.”
The Saudi Arabian Embassy said Lanuza’s family had appealed for help to raise the remainder of the blood money.
It said the Saudi Arabian government made the “royal goodwill gesture” as a result of coordination with Vice President Jejomar Binay, the presidential adviser for migrant workers’ affairs.