RIYADH/ALKHOBAR, 22 September 2004 — Faced with a stubborn employer who refuses to shoulder the cost of repatriating her former employee’s remains, the Philippine Embassy will just advance the amount so that the victim would be sent home to her grieving relatives.

Vice Consul and Third Secretary Jun Israel revealed the plan after the embassy got approval from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila to advance the amount of SR8,000 to pay for the repatriation of Onesima “Oning” Afos Pudol’s body.

Israel said that if everything goes according to plan, the embassy should be able to send the body home in one or two weeks’ time.

He said that it should not be difficult to process the papers since the cause of death is “illness and not accident.”

Pudol died of illness on Aug. 2 while waiting for the enforcement of a labor court ruling on a case she filed against her former employer over unpaid wages.

Israel said the cost of repatriation should come from Amani Faris Al-Ayde, who owns Fenoon Tailoring Shop where Pudol worked, but Israel said that she has refused to cooperate with embassy staff working on the case.

“The employer said that she’s willing to give the amount of SR4,900 to be used for the shipment of the body but we said ‘No, the amount was awarded to Pudol for winning in the labor court so we will send it to her family,’” Israel said.

Pudol has two children — Evangeline, a third year nursing student, and Ronald, who is taking up a vocational course.

Israel said that since the embassy would be advancing the amount needed, it would get the money back once it collects the amount from the employer. The amount being advanced is part of the embassy’s working funds.

Very Busy

The embassy’s staff and its labor and welfare components have been busy with plenty of cases over the past weeks.

On Sept. 14, the embassy repatriated to Iloilo Island in the central Philippines the remains of Loreta Jalandoni, who died in a vehicular accident in Hofuf in the Eastern Province.

In a press statement, Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla said he was thankful that Ambassador Said Bin Ali Bin Salem Alkalbani of the Sultanate of Oman volunteered his embassy’s cooperation in facilitating the payment of the repatriation expenses.

It was the Omani Embassy which first informed the Philippine Embassy of the accident in which Jalandoni’s employer, an Omani national, was also killed.

Diyah Paid

In Jubail, the embassy successfully claimed the diyah or “blood money” due the heirs of a Filipino driver who died in a vehicular accident in Jubail Industrial City last year.

According to the embassy, Amancio Alfonso of Pampanga province, who worked as a driver of Al-Bassam Global Co., Ltd. in Jubail, was delivering receipts for his employer’s clients when he was killed in a collision between his van and a car driven by a Lebanese national on May 8, 2003.

Ambassador Guinomla said a team led by Attaché Mangigin Disomimba aggressively pursued the blood money claim during a hearing scheduled on Sept. 12 and presided over by Sheikh Dr. Riyad bin Abdulatif Al-Muhaidib at the Jubail Grand Court in the bustling industrial zone, some 500 kilometers northeast of Riyadh.

After a lengthy deliberation, Sheikh Al-Muhaidib considered the embassy representatives’ appeal to grant the release of the check deposited at the court’s treasury by the concerned insurance company.

The embassy representatives received from the police a National Commercial Bank check worth SR50,000, which is the legally prescribed “blood money” to a male Christian victim.

“Once the check is cleared by the embassy’s depository bank, the amount will be remitted immediately to the beneficiaries of the deceased through the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila,” said the embassy in a press statement.

Buraydah Prison

Meanwhile, another team of embassy officials are working on a request by Ambassador Guinomla for the release of OFW Bernadeth Diasnes from the Buraydah Central Prison.

Guinomla wrote the governor of Qassim Region last week seeking assistance in releasing the prisoner after learning that she had allegedly manifested suicidal behavior.

Guinomla first sent Attachés Carmelita Hidalgo and Christine Granada-Buhay to Buraydah on Aug. 16, the same day that authorities took Diasnes into custody.

Ms. Hidalgo made another trip nine days later with Embassy translator Camaloddin Hasim an learned that the Buraydah court has recommended the woman’s release and eventual repatriation.