Portion of P23-M blood money should go to Joselito Zapanta's family –bishop

A bishop on Monday appealed to the government to give part of the P23 million blood money raised to supposedly save overseas Filipino worker Joselito Zapanta from execution in Saudi Arabia to his family in the Philippines.
Balanga, Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos, who chairs the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant Peoples (CBCP-ECMI), made the appeal after Zapanta was beheaded in Riyadh for killing a Sudanese national in 2009.
"Tama lamang na ipagpatuloy natin ang pagtulong sa naiwan na mahal sa buhay ni Joselito Zapanta," Santos said on Radyo Veritas, adding Zapanta, who came from a poor family in Pampanga, left behind a wife and two children, aged 13 and 11.
The P23 million raised by Zapanta's family is currently in a bank account opened by the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia.
"Ang pagpapasalamat natin sa kanya, sa kanyang ginawa na pagpapakasakit para mahal niya sa buhay at pati na rin sa ekonomiya na ay maipakilala/maipakita sa pamamagitan ng blood money na itulong, ipagkaloob sa pangangailangan ng dalawang anak ni Joselito," Santos said.
Santos also urged the government to extend all efforts to help some 1,000 OFWs incarcerated in other countries over various charges, including the 88 who are on death row.
"Dapat natin itong ibigay sa nangangailangan, para sa mga naiwan ni Joselito at gamitin na rin sa mga iba pang nasa piitan upang mapalaya. Tama lamang na ipagpatuloy ang pagtulong. Hindi ibig sabihin na lumisan na si Joselito, hindi na natin tutulungan," he said. —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more