Here in Saudi Arabia, eight Filipinos may face the executioner’s rakban

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – In the capital of Riyadh, when we returned from mountainous Aseer Wednesday night, we found much puzzlement about the "announced" visit of just-retired General Roy Cimatu, the new Chairman of the President’s "Crisis Management Committee" created to implement contingency measures (such as evacuating the 1.2 million Filipinos working in the Middle East in case of "war").

It turns out that the crisis is in Cimatu’s scheduling of his delegation’s supposed visit to the five countries in this region where the most OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are concentrated. These are Saudi Arabia, of course, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Turkey. (Paris, too?) In any event, Ambassador Bahnarin A. Guinomla in Riyadh was messaged that Cimatu and four of his committee members were scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow.

Our friend, the Saudi Ambassador, His Excellency Saleh Mohammad Al-Ghamdi, who arrived here from Manila Wednesday night, just an hour before our Saudia flight from Abha, Aseer, came in at the King Khaled International Airport, expressed surprise at this announcement.

He told us that General Cimatu and his party had not yet filed their applications for Saudi visas – in fact, when he left, Cimatu’s office had just asked for the forms.

And what about the Cimatu committee’s supposed "appointments" with Saudi officials, or ministers, most of them Princes of the Royal House of Saud? Such meeting must be worked out at least two weeks in advance.

I don’t know why the government makes these strange announcements to the media, willy nilly, to perhaps convey the false impression that something is being done about the 850,000 to 900,000 OFWs here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sure, the Embassy here and the Consulate General in Jeddah, as well as our consular representatives in the Eastern Province where 120,000 Filipinos live in the three linked cities of al-Khobar, Dammam and Dhahran, are compiling lists, addresses and trying to flesh out contingency evacuation routes and plans (there are 260,000 OFWs in Riyadh and environs alone). But with regard to General Cimatu and his group, the way they’re doing things through press releases, the only meetings they will have if they get here without preparation will be with camels and sheep (which the Bedouin still keep, although many of them already live in high-rises).

They can meet, naturally, with our Embassy and Consular officials – but that wouldn’t solve anything, since they’d only get in the way of officials who’re doing the actual work.

I think there should be a more systematic approach to this so-called Crisis Management plan. Otherwise, it will turn out to be just another junket.

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Among the important matters our Embassy and Consular officials have to cope with is the number of Filipinos who’re in jail, facing the possibility of "capital punishment".

In Saudi Arabia, this punishment is carried out by decapitation, with the Royal Executioner lopping the condemned person’s head off, using the traditional rakban or "necker", as they call it.

The doomed individual is brought to a public square named Deerah (near old Batha) in a white van. The unfortunate one is blindfolded, and directed to kneel and bend his or her head. The Executioner raises his sword, then swoosh. Large crowds gather to witness this event.

Unfortunately, some eight Filipinos are on trial at this time, facing "capital punishment" owing to being accused of heinous crimes, such as murder. There used to be 13 facing such punishment, but five have gotten, so to speak, "off the hook" through the Embassy’s efforts and local lawyers.

I have obtained a complete list of these countrymen and women of ours, but I won’t publish it to protect the privacy of the detainees and spare their families back home from embarrassment or grief. There is still a good chance those in peril of beheading might be "forgiven" by the families of their alleged victims owing to the payment of diyyah or "blood money", which is a traditional recompense for such crimes.

There is, for example, the high-profile case of an OFW we shall call "Gasmen" who is accused of having "murdered" a Nepalese to whom he owed a substantial sum of money. This crime occurred four years ago, and poor Gasmen has been convicted of it. The "beheading" has been postponed to next January, however, to give the sentenced man and his friends, and interested patrons and charitable groups time to raise the estimated $15,000 or Saudi Riyals 780,000 in "blood money" which could get him "forgiven" and freed.

Another case involves Sarah Jane who killed her Saudi employer last November 11, 1992. Representations have been made with the family of the victim for "blood money" payment, but there has been no response, or sum set by the legal heirs of the victim.

Joselito, Romeo and Ramiro are also in prison, accused of murdering Saudi national Fahad al-Otaibi on August 10, 1997. They were acquitted of the murder charges last July 2, 1997. They were acquitted of the murder charges last July 2, 2002, but the case is still pending in appellate courts. Another detainee, Ernesto, was arrested for homicide on July 22, 1999. His victim was another OFW named Renato. "Blood money" or diyyah of P500,000 (pesos) has been set, but the result of negotations is still being awaited.

Reynaldo M. was accused of inflicting serious injury on a Pakistani national, Khan Bassam, earlier this year. He is now in Malaz Central Prison awaiting court trial.

This is just to give a sketchy picture of what’s happening with our OFWs. Considering that we have about 900,000 OFWs here, we can say that our Filipinos are well-behaved, all things considered.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . Former President Fidel V. Ramos arrived here Wednesday night, too, with a "high-powered" business delegation. They are staying in the Conference Palace, a deluxe hostelry reserved for "VIP" visitors to the Kingdom. Abangan.