OFW on Saudi death row wants lawmakers’ cash gifts to go to fund for blood money

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Can the P1.6 million given by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to each of the 18 senators and the P500,000 distributed by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to each of the more than 200 lawmakers last Christmas be spent on purposes other than office operations?

An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) on death row in Saudi Arabia wished this could be possible.

“I want to ask them to contribute to the blood money I am raising for the family I offended,” Rodelio “Dondon” Lanuza, whose relatives are based in Bulacan, told the Inquirer through online messages on Friday.

If the senators and representatives would share the money, Lanuza said he and at least 77 OFWs languishing in jails in different countries could benefit from the pooled amount, gain their freedom and reunite with their families.

“Kawawa naman po ang mga nangangailangan (Those who need the money are pitiful),” went his comment on the Facebook account, “Help Save a Life, Help Save Dondon Lanuza from Death Row.” The site carries the tag line, “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko.”

“We made several appeals to all the senators to help us (OFWs on death row) to pool [blood] money but we have not received positive replies from them,” Lanuza said.

Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, a boxing champion and one of the wealthiest members of the House of Representatives, did not help despite a number of appeals, he added.

Lanuza worked as a draftsman in Saudi Arabia in 1996. He admitted to stabbing an Arab out of self-defense in June 2000 but was sentenced in 2002 to death by beheading.

On the heels of appeals by fellow OFWs, the Philippine government and the Saudi Reconciliation Committee in Dammam helped him secure forgiveness from the offended family in February 2011.

By way of tradition, the family required a diyya or compensation worth P35 million. Saudi authorities did not set a deadline but Lanuza is hoping the aggrieved family won’t change its mind while he raises the blood money.

The OFWs running the Facebook page reported raising P10.6 million as of Jan. 10 through several bank accounts.

An OFW recently posted this on behalf of Lanuza, intending this for President Aquino: “I’m begging you, Mr. President, there is a man out there on the brink of his death in a foreign land and a son to his parents and a friend to his friends, appealing for your help that his killing of the Arab national was an act of self-defense.”

The page has begun a countdown, announcing that Lanuza needs 9,667 people who can pitch in P1,500 each to save his life. Any donation may be sent to his mother, Letty Lanuza, through her Metrobank (Malolos City, MacArthur Highway branch) savings account number 575-3-57501112-9 (Bank Swift Code: MBTCPHMM).

“With their additional budget, I hope the senators and congressmen will donate to my cause and to other OFWs in difficult situations,” he said.  Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon