Philippines seeks Sudan help for death row inmate in Saudi

The Philippines said Tuesday it is seeking help from Sudan to commute the death sentence of a Filipino facing execution in Saudi Arabia. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said officials were trying to contact the family of the Sudanese man killed by Filipino laborer Joselito Zapanta in Saudi Arabia in 2009, resulting in his death sentence. Zapanta was given until November 3 to raise more than $1 million to pay the family of the Sudanese landlord, who he killed in a rent dispute. "There has been no (Saudi) response to our letters so we are trying to get to the family of the Sudanese victim and we are trying to do this (through) the Sudan Ambassador," in Saudi Arabia, he told reporters. Del Rosario did not say if there had been any word about Zapanta after the November 3 deadline passed. Under Saudi law, "blood money" must be paid to a victim's family before a convict can be spared. About 45 million pesos is needed to save Zapanta but so far only five million pesos ($116,000) has been raised, del Rosario said. He said the Philippines would ask the landlord's family to either agree to a lower amount or to an extension of the period to raise the funds. Zapanta was originally due to be executed in November last year but his execution date has been pushed back several times so that the money can be raised. In February, a Filipino sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for killing a man he said tried to sexually abuse him walked free after a similar amount was paid to the victim's family. In that case, the Filipino man's family raised the equivalent of $245,000, while the Saudi government paid another $615,000. More than nine million Filipinos work around the world, often in menial jobs yet earning much more than they could in their poverty-stricken country. Their remittances are a vital pillar to the country's economy and their welfare is often a hot political issue back home.