MANILA - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it would seek all possible remedies to save a Filipino woman on death row in Saudi Arabia.
This after the Saudi Court of Appeals upheld her 2017 death sentence Thursday for killing her female employer three years ago. She had cited self-defense for the slay.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will exhaust all diplomatic avenues and legal remedies to save a Filipina in Saudi Arabia after the Saudi Court of Appeals affirmed her death sentence on Thursday," the DFA said.
The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah has been providing her legal aid since the start of her trial, the DFA said.
Consul General Edgar Badajos said the Filipina's case has also been referred to the Philippine Department of Justice, chair of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking (IACAT), as the woman was recruited when she was still a minor.
The post recommended the filing of charges against her recruiters.
In January, Saudi Arabia executed a 39-year-old Filipina household worker found guilty in a 2015 murder case. The Saudi Supreme Judicial Council had classified the Filipina's case as one in which blood money does not apply under the Shariah law.
Saudi Arabia is the leading destination for overseas Filipino workers, with a fourth of the total 2.3 million of them employed there, according to 2017 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Saudi Arabia, OFW, death row, murder, self-defense, Department of Foreign Affairs, overseas Filipino worker, labor, Consul General, Edgar Badajos