JEDDAH, 27 June 2005 — A love triangle involving two Filipino men and a woman in the northwestern Saudi Arabian city of Tabuk has ended in tragedy, leaving one dead, another seriously injured and another jobless.
Filipinos in Tabuk and Jeddah identified the dead victim as Leoncio Pacer, a 52-year-old engineer from the central Philippine province of Iloilo who worked at King Abdulaziz Military City (KAMC), an operation and maintenance company.
Injured was Eduardo Tabora, a 40-year-old technician from the eastern Philippine region of Bicol, who works as technician in the same company.
Pacer died from multiple stab wounds inflicted on him by Tabora during a fight on June 10. Tabora was said to have suffered stab wounds in the shoulders.
As gathered by Arab News from various sources, who all asked not to be named, the fight started when the woman known in the community as “Kris” called Tabora to tell him that she and Pacer were officially married at the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah on June 9.
Tabora, who was reportedly drinking with friends in their accommodation, went “crazy” because the woman gloated. Tabora and Kris were known to be lovers for two years until Pacer came into the picture.
Kris, whose initials are DGA, is a 42-year-old nurse at King Abdulaziz Hospital inside KAMC.
Tabora, according to his friends, had given up Kris for lost but he got irked when the woman told him that Pacer was old but capable of fulfilling his promise to marry her. “Ang iba d’yan hindi naman kaya at walang pera. Buti pa ang isang ito (The other man is more capable and he has money,” she was quoted telling Tabora.
After the conversation, Tabora reportedly hurried to the apartment of the couple and confronted Pacer. Cooler heads intervened and Tabora left but threatened to come back and kill Pacer.
True enough, Tabora came back minutes later, armed with a knife. And Pacer was also ready for him. One source said that Pacer drew first blood by stabbing Tabora twice on the shoulders. But the younger man managed to hit back, knocking down Pacer with a punch. As the two men grappled on the floor, Tabora reached for his knife tucked behind his belt and repeatedly stabbed Pacer in the stomach.
Neighbors brought both men to the nearby King Adbulaziz Military Hospital but Pacer was declared “dead-on-arrival.” His body lies in the hospital morgue.
Tabora was hospitalized and placed under the custody of the Al Naeem Police Station in Tabuk three days after he recovered.
Kris was terminated by the hospital and is “under heavy guard,” Arab News learned.
Playing With Fire
There is more to the story than just the love triangle and the killing of Pacer. All three protagonists are known to be married.
“Tulad ng marami sa ating mga Pilipino dito sa Saudi Arabia, naglaro ng apoy ang tatlong ito at lahat sila’y nasunog (Like many others Filipinos in the Kingdom are doing, these trio played with fire and they all got burned,” one community leader said.
How Pacer and Kris managed to get past the scrutiny of Philippine officials is a question that has yet to be answered.
“The Consul General has ordered an investigation into the matter,” Administrative Officer Taha Guinomla of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah said yesterday when asked about the case. He said the consul general will also be meeting with the Filipino community in Tabuk on July 6-8.
Tabuk, which is close to the Saudi border with Jordan, is about 400 kilometers north of Jeddah, located on the Kingdom's western sea coast.
Guinomla said Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot was in Oman attending a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, while Vice Consul Jose Jacob was on his way back to Jeddah from Manila.
Arab News sources said, however, that the case had reached the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
“What happened in Tabuk exposed the practice in the consulate of giving marriage license to OFWs with questionable marital status,” said a Filipino in Tabuk, who helped gather information for Arab News.
Despite repeated claims that the requirements for getting married overseas have been made stricter, many OFWs abroad reportedly can still easily get married, especially in the Middle East.
“The rationale being given (by embassy or consulate officials) is that it's better to give them (illicit lovers) papers than face the more difficult problem of getting them out of jail if caught without papers or possessing a fake marriage license,” said a community leader in Jeddah.
Fake Marriages
The vice consul is the solemnizing officer at the consulate. He makes sure that applicants for a marriage license present an authenticated record from the Philippine National Statistics Office (NSO) showing they are not married, certification from the barangay captain, and parents’ consent even if the bride or groom is of legal age.
Applicants who can’t produce documents from the Philippines can execute an affidavit that they are unmarried. The consulate performs an average of 10 marriages in a month, Arab News learned.
An authentic marriage license costs around 840 riyals, exclusive of other fees.
Those who don’t want to go through the “legal” channel can reportedly obtain fake marriage licenses for a fee ranging between 500 to 800 riyals. “Fixers” outside the gate of the consulate are known to peddle fake marriage licenses.
Bogus marriage certificates, however, are very easy to spot because the signatories in these fake certificates are officials who have left the Kingdom.
Among those whose names are reportedly being used are former Vice Consuls Comia, Garibay and Amonoy, who have long been transferred from Jeddah.
