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THE 29-year-old Filipino worker
who slipped into a coma after being beaten up in Riyadh has died,
Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor reported
Friday.
Villamor said
Antonio Oralde died at the Riyadh Care Hospital at 12:05 a.m. Friday
(5:05 a.m. in Manila).
Villamor said
the Department of Foreign Affairs would work for the speedy return
of Oralde’s remains, a process that usually takes from two weeks
to a month.
He said he had
sent a team of consular officers to Riyadh to alert Saudi officials
of the intention to fly home the Filipino worker’s body after
receiving reports that the hospital would harvest Oralde’s organs.
Villamor said
he had talked to Oralde’s sister, Tina, about securing his body.
Reports from
various sources in the Filipino community in Riyadh indicated that
Oralde was beaten up in a parking lot outside the Chicken Plus
restaurant on February 5.
Quoting
witnesses, Villamor said Oralde was making sure that four customers
he waited on would pay for their order. The unidentified customers,
however, forced Oralde to board their vehicle and dropped him
outside the restaurant after bashing in his head.
A Filipino,
Roland Blanco, told Philippine Embassy officials that a Lebanese
called for an ambulance to help Oralde.
Blanco said
Oralde had just renewed his contract. He said the victim was not
keen on renewing the contract but was forced to because he had
borrowed money from a fellow OFW.
 --Francis
Earl A. Cueto
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