ANGELES CITY – With either freedom or death by beheading dangling before him, a jailed overseas Filipino worker and his supporters have launched a drive dubbed “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko” for raise enough “blood money” to spare him from execution in Saudi Arabia.
Rodelio “Dondon” Lanuza, 37, told Punto through internet that the aggrieved family of the Arab whom he had killed way back in 2000 would pardon him in exchange for blood money worth P35 million.
Lanuza has been in jail in Dammam, Saudi Arabia for 10 years and 10 months now. He was convicted for the killing of an Arab national, amid his insistence on self defense.
In jail, Lanuza is, however, allowed access to the Internet, enabling him and his supporters to launch “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko” through his Facebook account.
A week ago, Arab News 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 arrangement was made four months ago.
John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, said the SRC told him that no Philippine embassy representative attended a recent meeting arranged by SRC to discuss negotiations with the family on the blood money.
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.”
Pardoning or forgiving a murderer is permissible in the Shariah, for the sake of Allah, or through the payment of “diya.” In the case of Lanuza, the eldest child of the aggrieved family determined the amount of “diya” with the other option to otherwise have Lanuza beheaded.
The SRC had reportedly been negotiating with the victim’s family in the last six years for the pardon of Lanuza, until the family decided to do so four months ago in exchange for the blood money.
“On behalf of Lanuza and his wife and two kids, Migrante-Middle East is calling on President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino lll to raise the needed money,” the Arab newspaper quoted Monterona as saying.
Monterona said Lanuza’s case has become an opportunity for the President to “prove his critics wrong.” On Sunday, Migrante-Middle East gave a “failing grade to President Aquino for unsatisfactory rating in his first year in office.”
Lanuza is allowed access to Internet in jail and has gained some following in his Facebook account.
He and and his supporters have been appealing for support for “Barya Mo, Buhay Ko”, a fund raising drive to raise blood money.
In his Facebook account, Lanuza gave out the number of a bank account in Malolos, Bulacan. He also issued information on how his parents could be contacted to authenticate the fund raising campaign.
Migrante-Middle East is also monitoring the cases of other death convicts in Saudi, including brothers Rolando and Edison Gonzales, Eduardo Arcilla, Joselito Zapanta and, Carlito Rana.
