King Abdullah Financial District seen from the northeast side of Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia. By B.alotaby - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

MANILA (3RD UPDATE) -- A Filipino was executed in Saudi Arabia over the murder of a Saudi national, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. 

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh confirmed there was an execution, however there has been "no official confirmation from Saudi authorities" as of writing, the DFA said in a statement. 

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The DFA maintained that they did "all we could" to halt the execution or minimize the punishment, but the victim's family advocated for the death penalty. 

"We did all we could: court appeal, presidential letter of appeal, trying to get the victim’s family to accept blood money… in the end, these efforts were not successful as the victim’s family insisted on the death penalty instead of accepting blood money," DFA said.

While DFA withheld details of the case for privacy reasons, it said the Filipino was tried for the murder of a Saudi national "over money." 

"The family of the Filipino does NOT want publicity over the case.  Out of deference to their wishes, and out of respect to their privacy, we will withhold details on the case. We appeal to the media and the public to understand and heed the wishes of the family," the agency said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega later said that the Filipino has been on death row in Saudi Arabia since March 2022 for the crime that happened in 2020.

"He was given full legal assistance. The only way to save his life would have been approval from the family of blood money compensation. However, it was refused. So we did conduct regular jail visits and when the President wrote to the King of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government issued a postponement of the execution," de Vega said.

According to de Vega, the Filipino did not deny killing the victim, a Saudi national with whom he had a business venture.

"The victim was asking our kababayan for his share in the profits or something, and they had a money dispute and that led to the confrontation," he said. "He hit the Saudi national's head twice with some hammer."

"Not only did he kill him, but he tried to ship him out of their country, ship the corpse out of the country. In fact, he wanted to have him transported to the Philippines, the corpse. Nahuli siya sa port. So he never denied that it happened," he added.

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President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the execution "a terrible tragedy."

"Nonetheless, we appealed to the better nature of our friends in Saudi Arabia to perhaps have another look. Unfortunately the law there is very strict, and apparently, the conviction stood and one of ours has been taken away. Very unfortunate," he added.

The DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers are currently working to repatriate the remains of the Filipino worker.

"We are working closely with the DFA on that matter," DMW secretary Hans Leo Cacdac told reporters when asked when the remains of the executed Filipino can be brought home to the Philippines.

"Rest assured we're assisting the family… The DMW has visited the family for support and assistance," he said.

Among the assistance extended to the bereaved family is aid for the executed Filipinos' "school-age children," Cacdac said.

"The family is requesting utmost privacy so galangin na lang natin yung privacy ng pamilya (let's just respect the privacy of the family)," he said. 

The government is also assisting the OFW's family in recovering unpaid salaries that was won in a separate labor case against his employer.

According to Marcos, the Philippine government had tried to prevent the execution "for many years."

"My God, this has been going on for many years. I remember five to six years na ito. I came upon it when I came into office...and they told me it is an old... and as I said, I guess Saudi tried to exhaust all possibilities, so did we, but to no avail," he said.

Marcos also assured the bereaved family that the government will assist in the repatriation of their loved one's remains.

"Well, of course our thoughts and prayers are all with them and we...I...there is nothing one can do to make it whole. But we will do our best," he said. "We will see what they need."

There are currently 60 Filipinos on death row globally -- nine in Saudi Arabia.

"We will continue, in the government, to do everything we can for distressed Filipino nationals facing charges abroad," said de Vega. "But in cases where the judicial system is more strict or has a different system and when you are really guilty…we cannot always succeed in saving you from the death penalty."

"Cases like this are few and far in between. Nevertheless, we will work quietly on these cases."

-- With reports from Pia Gutierrez, Katrina Domingo and Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News