JEDDAH, 5 June — One of the "hate texters" who were deported to the Philippines last week had been caught possessing materials for the production of pornographic films, the Philippine Embassy has been told.
Ambassador Rafael Seguis revealed this to Arab News yesterday as he defended the embassy and himself from criticisms that they failed to exert enough effort to keep the three OFWs from being sent home.
Such information had long been circulating within the Filipino community but it was the first official confirmation from local authorities. Seguis provided a copy of a letter from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with an unofficial translation.
The letter, written in answer to a request by the embassy, said: "The Ministry received a reply from the concerned authorities that a large quantity of video tapes and discs were found in the house of Rawi-ani Usman, which he used for the production of pornographi and other films."
Usman was arrested by local authorities in mid-February along with Abulkhair "Bong" Guro and Kamal "Kim" Lomondot, both architects from Lanao, after threatening and malicious cellular phone text messages to the ambassador were traced to them.
The messages were reportedly meant to harass Seguis after he barred students of the padlocked Philippine Community School in Jeddah (PCSJ) from taking the annual NEAT and NSAT exams being given to Philippine schools last February.
After the three were arrested, the embassy made representations with local officials, asking the release of the "hate texters" because the ambassador had forgiven them.
Seguis had been criticized by the Jeddah-based community group Kasapi and other organizations and individuals for not doing enough to get the three released early.
In an earlier interview with Arab News, Seguis said the embassy did all it could but were told that "hate texting" was not just the offense the suspects were charged with.
In his letter to Arab News, the ambassador said the Foreign Ministry's letter also confirmed what Saudi officials had told him earlier when he personally sought the release of the three OFWs.
Seguis said he even begged that Bong Guro at least should not be deported since he was supposed to have no participation in the "hate texting." The cell phone used by Usman was reportedly under Guro's name.
But local authorities reportedly hinted that Guro had been implicated by his own colleagues.
Seguis lamented that the matter "went out of hand."
"As I've said before, our only intention was to determine who were sending the hate messages so that we could address their grievances," he said. One of the messages, which was documented by the embassy, warned Seguis not to "try the Muslim community in Jeddah."
"In the first place, they should not have been sending those messages anonymously," he said.