RIYADH, 10 September 2004 — OFW Danilo Bulacan saw the light of day in his quest for justice after police threw in jail a brother of his employer who beat him up, the Philippine Embassy said yesterday.
In a press statement, the embassy said Bulacan, a native of Inopacan town in the central Philippine island of Leyte, suffered a broken bone arm after Saif Al-Faleh hit him with an iron bar on Aug. 30.
The statement quoted the victim as saying he was only asking for his Iqama — which has not been issued to him and other Filipino workers since they started working 10 months ago — but Al-Faleh got mad at him and started beating him.
Al-Faleh is the brother of the manager of Gear Star, a machine shop located in Sinaiya on Al-Shefa District in Riyadh.
Upon learning of the attack, Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla instructed Attaché Mangigin Disomimba and interpreter Hassan Cali to assist Bulacan in filing a complaint.
Armed with the X-ray film and a medical report from the Riyadh Medical Complex showing the fracture in Bulacan’s right arm bone, the embassy staff filed the complaint with the Al-Shefa Police Station.
The statement said Col. Sultan, head of the police station, sent men to arrest Al-Faleh in the presence of the embassy personnel and other workers of the shop.
“The Assistance to Nationals Section of the embassy will also work for the repatriation of two other Filipino Gear Star shop workers, Raul Infante and Elmer Estilo, who left with Bulacan out of fear for their safety after what happened to their co-worker,” said the statement.