Blood money raised for Saudi OFW Zapanta still below target

With the November 3 deadline approaching, the blood money raised so far for Joselito Zapanta, a Filipino death row convict in Saudi Arabia, is still way below target.

Zapanta's family needs to raise SR4 million (P45 million), but only SR520,831 has been raised so far, according to Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Binay, the presidential adviser on overseas Filipin worker (OFW) concerns, said he is hoping that the amount would be lowered or that the November 3 deadline to settle the blood money would be extended.

“Umasa pa rin tayo sa himala. Baka mabigyan pa tayo ng extension at baka ibaba pa ang halaga,” he said in a Facebook post.

Zapanta was sentenced to death for killing a Sudanese national in 2009.

The Saudi government has already extended the period of collecting Zapanta’s blood money twice.

Still, Binay said he remains hopeful that Zapanta’s life will be spared, citing the case of Dondon Lanuza, who returned home last month after languishing in Saudi Arabia's death row for 13 years.

In Lanuza's case, the Philippine government and Lanuza's supporters were able to raise SR700,000 of the SR3 million sought by the victim's family. Saudi King Abdullah shouldered the remaining amount. — KBK, GMA News
 

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