RIYADH, 1 July 2005 — Top officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila will be arriving here today, the Philippine Embassy said yesterday.
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo is expected to be accompanied by Undersecretaries Jose Brillantes and Rafael Seguis.
Details of the visit were not immediate available but Arab News learned it has something to do with the cases of Filipinos who are in jail, particularly those on death row.
“They are hoping to meet with Saudi officials on behalf of our kababayan who have ran afoul with local laws,” one embassy official said.
Brillantes and Seguis, both career diplomats, are the troubleshooters of the DFA.
Brillantes, who will soon be the Philippine ambassador to Canada, heads the DFA’s Office of Migrant Workers Affairs.
Seguis, who had served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia and later to Indonesia, is the undersecretary for special concerns.
He had been in Iraq for the last seven months, returning home only last week after Iraqi militants released Filipino accountant Roberto Tarongoy.
Romulo, Brillantes and Seguis are to have a dialogue with community leaders in Riyadh tomorrow night at the Philippine Chancery in a dinner meeting hosted by Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla.