RIYADH, 17 October 2004 - The remains of 17 deceased Filipino workers were repatriated to the Philippines in September while one was buried in the Kingdom under Islamic rites, according to the Philippine Embassy.
Vice Consul Romulo Victor Israel Jr. said the embassy is also working on repatriation of the remains of 17 more Filipinos.
Of the 18 deaths, 14 were due to natural causes, three to vehicular accidents and one for an unstated reason, an embassy press statement quoted Israel as saying.
The batch includes the body of Erna Barranco, the maid from Pampanga province, who was allegedly mauled to death by her female employer in Riyadh.
Barranco was brought to hospital supposedly by his male employer but failed to survive from severe injuries.
"The Embassy received information from Manila that her surviving family signed an agreement with the alleged culprit's family for an out-of-court settlement," said the press statement.
Israel, head of the embassy's Assistance to Nationals Section (ANS), said that of the 17 cases, the longest it took for the shipment of the remains to be finalized was 75 days while it took only 14 days for the fastest.
For the whole batch, it took an average of 27.7 days from the date of death to the actual shipment of the remains.
The ANS prepares and sends reports of death to the Office of Consular Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which in turn transmits the same to the National Statistics Office (NSO), which in turn issues death of certificates on the basis of the embassy 's reports.
Israel explained that the processing of the required documents for the repatriation of human remains of expatriates in the Kingdom rests primarily on the employers.
"As such, a time frame for the entire process cannot be fixed. Another important factor that bears on this process is the cause of death since accident - and crime-related deaths need more documentation than those of natural causes," he said.
