Zapanta and OFWs on Saudi death row

We welcome the decision of the Saudi authorities to suspend the execution of OFW Joselito Zapanta. The suspension will certainly be a source of some comfort to the worried Zapanta family, while giving the Philippine government more time to save not only the life of Zapanta but also those of other OFWs on Saudi death row.

We hope that it will also make government more aware of the urgent need to intensify its efforts in saving those OFWs. As of our latest count, there are still six of them on death row and a number are awaiting final court ruling.

We reiterate our call to the Aquino administration to send a high-level team of diplomats to Saudi Arabia to once and for all look into the individual cases and status of OFWs on death row, including Zapanta’s and to draw up a concrete plan of legal actions and strategies to save the lives of our doomed fellow OFWs who are, in the first place, victims of forced migration.
We urge our fellow OFWs to keep on praying and to do their part in any way, small or big, to help save the lives of our fellow OFWs on Saudi death row.

—JOHN LEONARD MONTERONA,

regional coordinator,

Migrante-Middle East,

[email protected]