Fund drive to save OFW on Saudi death row launched

ANGELES CITY ,Philippines  – Rogelio “Dondon” Lanuza, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) on death row in Saudi Arabia for killing an Arab national, and his supporters have launched a fund drive dubbed “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko” to raise “blood money” to spare him from execution.

Lanuza, 37, told The Star via the social networking site Facebook that the family of the Arab whom he had killed in 2000 would pardon him in exchange for P35 million blood money.

Details about the bank account where donations can be deposited and the contact number of his parents were also listed in his Facebook account.

Lanuza has been in jail in Dammam, Saudi Arabia for 10 years and 10 months now. He launched “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko” through his Facebook account.

Arab News also reported that the Saudi Reconciliation Committee (SRC) had announced that Lanuza could be saved from execution if blood money was paid to the family of his victim.

The SRC, whose executive chairman is Dr. Nasser Bin Mesfir Al-Zahrani, is credited with saving the lives of 173 people sentenced to death since its inception in 2008. Its mission is to prevent haggling by the families of the murder victims over blood money or “diya.”

The SRC is reportedly been negotiating with the victim’s family for the last six years to pardon Lanuza, but it was only four months ago the family decided to ask for blood money.