RIYADH, 22 July 2003 — Two Filipino workers have been sentenced to 350 lashes each for retracting their previous statements in a murder case before the Riyadh Emergency Court, while another Filipino suspect implicated in the same case has been acquitted without corporal punishment.
The case involves the murder of a Saudi official named Fahad Al-Otaibi working for a Saudi law enforcement agency.
“The three — Joselito Alejo, Romeo Cordova and Ramiro Esmero — are currently in the custody of the embassy after their acquittal by the court two weeks ago,” Mariano A. Dumia, minister at the Philippine Embassy, told Arab News here yesterday.
“But Alejo and Esmero are awaiting the schedule for the 350 lashes, while the embassy is trying to reach some sort of reconciliation,” said Dumia adding that the diplomatic mission was working to approach the Saudi government with a request for clemency.
The three Filipinos were arrested on grounds which were not very convincing, he said.
“But we are happy that they have been acquitted by the Saudi judicial system.”
The local Filipino community leaders contacted by Arab News yesterday, however, breathed a sigh of relief and said the three were lucky they did not get the death penalty. “Two of them will only receive 350 lashes each.”
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople has been quoted as saying that “Cordova was found guilty of falsifying travel documents while Alejo and Esmero have been charged with failing to report what they knew of the murder of Al-Otaibi.”
There have also been reports that the decision handed down by Judge Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Obaid will be forwarded to the Riyadh Court of Appeals for review.
If the Riyadh Court of Appeals agrees with Al-Obaid’s decision, it will be forwarded to the governor’s office for approval.
Then, the Saudi police will implement the court’s ruling and the Filipinos will also be deported after punishment.
The 350-lash punishment for the two Filipinos will be applied in five 70-lash installments, once a week for a five-week period.
Each weekly lashing will be followed by a medical examination by Saudi authorities before the Filipinos are returned to the Philippine Embassy.
Of late, several Filipino workers have been detained and arrested on various charges. Recently, a Filipina nurse named Violeta Miranda was found guilty of drug possession was sentenced to seven months in prison and 150 lashes.
She was later deported to Manila. Nearly every year during the holy month of Ramadan, a number of Filipino prisoners are pardoned and released by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd in response to requests from the Philippine government for royal clemency.
