RIYADH, 22 June 2006 — Supporters of a Filipino driver who was jailed two years ago when his trailer was involved in an accident in which four people were killed are trying to raise blood money to secure his release.

Dr. Carlito L. Astillero, a Filipino community leader and director of pathology and laboratory medicine at a Jeddah hospital, said the Filipino driver, Benedicto Capulong, was jailed after the accident that took place in Jumoum, near Makkah in June 2004. Two men and two women died as the GMC Suburban they were traveling in collided with the trailer Capulong was driving.

According to Astillero, Capulong, who has accepted Islam and taken the name Abdurrahman, has been abandoned by his employers — Wail and Zulaiman Hamlan — and also by officials at the Filipino Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah.

Capulong, from Baliuag in Bulacan, wrote to Astillero asking for help after reading about him in Pinoy Xtra (a Sunday supplement published with Arab News in Tagalog).

“I came to Saudi Arabia to work. However, instead of earning a living for my family, I am now spending my time in jail for an accident that was not my fault,” Capulong wrote.

The accident took place when the GMC Suburban hit the side of the trailer after it had turned from a desert road on to the main road. Capulong was subsequently found guilty and jailed. The families of the victims are demanding blood money totaling SR250,000 which Capulong cannot afford.

“Where would I get that amount? I am just a driver, a poor man,” wrote Capulong. He added, “Hopes have welled up in heart when I was able to talk to you (Dr. Astillero) and you told me to send you a letter containing the details of the accident.”

Astillero says that Capulong has sought the help of Montaser Pasandalan from the Consulate General in Jeddah and the Vice Consul and Third Secretary, Romulo Victor Israel, from the Assistance to Nationals Section at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. He added that both the embassy and consulate have abandoned his case. Pasandalan and Israel could not be contacted to provide comments.

After coming to know the details of his imprisonment, Dr. Astillero called the consulate in Jeddah but could not get through to Pasandalan. Astillero says that Pasandalan has been uncooperative ever since he learned of the case. In order to help raise blood money, Astillero is calling upon people to make generous donations.