Former Philippine Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor left the Kingdom Thursday night after 15 days of negotiations in connection with the case of Rodelon “Eissah” Lanuza who is on death row in the Eastern Province.
“We're trying to raise the whole amount asked by the Saudi family for having granted forgiveness to Lanuza, also called Rodelon, in February 2011,” Villamor told Arab News.
He expressed his thanks to Eastern Province Gov. Prince Mohammad bin Fahd, Committee on Reconciliation Vice Chairman Shiekh Ali bin Ali, and various OFW groups and schools in the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Qassim who had enthusiastically promised to help.
“The amount will be deposited in an account which I have opened with the Metropolitan Bank and Trust (Metrobank) in Riyadh on behalf of Lanuza,” Villamor said.
Villamor, who said he came to the Kingdom on his own, added that of the SR3.5 million asked by the family for granting forgiveness, SR2 million had been raised so far through the efforts of US-based Filipino-American businesswoman and philanthropist Loida Lewis, who is also a lawyer.
“The SR2 million includes the 4.6 million pesos from the Philippine government. We need to raise SR1.5 million more,” Villamor said.
In a press conference last December in New York, Lewis joined Letty Lanuza, Rodelon's mother, to reinvigorate the campaign to raise blood money by February 2012, which marked one year since the pardon was granted.
Lanuza was sentenced to death for the killing of a Saudi national in August 2000, which he claimed to have been “an act of self-defense.”
Villamor added that he had tried to ask that the amount being asked be reduced but the family was not ready to accede to the request, adding that he would come back if there was a need for it.
Source: Arab News, April 2, 2012
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