MANILA, Philippines -- Jenifer Bidoya, the overseas Filipino worker beheaded recently in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for killing a Saudi national, washed the clothes and cut the hair of fellow inmates so he could send home money to his parents and seven other siblings even while he was in jail.

According to his father, Geremias, who flew here from Zamboanga to meet with officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, their family is already trying to accept the fate of his son.

"He's already dead. All I'm asking is help for his other siblings," he said.

After the dialogue with the DFA, Geremias and his relatives are going to the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration to receive some P100,000 in life insurance and P20,000 in burial assistance.

Executive director Crescente Relacion of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs said Bidoya was buried the day after he was executed. The DFA has requested repatriation of the body on behalf of the family.

He said he remembers Jenifer, the second of eight children, as always helpful.

During the dialogue, the Bidoyas asked the DFA for copies of legal documents that prove the Philippine embassy in Riyadh actually assisted Jenifer.

"The family would like to understand the circumstances of the case," said Connie Bragas-Regalado of the activist organization Migrante who accompanied the Bidoyas to the dialogue with the DFA.

Last week, DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. announced the beheading of Bidoya. He said the government tried everything to save his life, but the family of the victim refused to talk to representatives from the embassy or even the negotiator sent by the King of Saudi Arabia, whose intercession was
sought twice by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Relacion said, "Nagawa natin lahat ang dapat gawin (We did all that needed to be done)."

On the admission of consul Ezzedin Tago that only an interpreter was sent to the trial before the district court, he explained that unlike the Philippine judicial system, in Saudi Arabia, the judge -- not the lawyer -- asks questions of the accused.

Relacion said his office is monitoring 34 capital punishment cases involving OFWs: 11 in Saudi Arabia, two in Kuwait, 11 in Malaysia, seven in China for alleged drug trafficking, and one each in Brunei, the United States, and Taiwan.

To ensure that all 3.8 million OFWs can get assistance from Philippine embassies throughout the world, Relacion said the department has a pending request for Congress to provide additional budget for 1,000 more DFA personnel.