Spare OFWs from Extrajudicial Killings, Duterte Urged

RIYADH: Filipinos in Saudi Arabia have urged the Duterte administration to spare Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from extrajudicial killings in connection with its drug campaign.

They were reacting to a report aired by TV Patrol on ABS-CB, regarding the killing of 27-year-old Mark Culata, an OFW who was working in the Kingdom and was just taking his vacation, reported Arab News.

Culata was reportedly arrested by operatives of government at a checkpoint in Cavite Province, south of Manila, but was found dead later on.

“Being an OFW, Culata could not be ‘a pusher.’ He had just come from the Kingdom which is very strict when it comes to illegal drugs,” Arnold G. Pineda, a Filipino community worker in Buraidah, reportedly said. “Culata’s death was a total disregard of OFWs’ contributions to our country, particularly its economy.”

Eduardo R. Rodriguez, spare parts manager of Arab Equipment Est. in Dammam, was quoted as saying that government operatives in Philippines should exercise restraint in identifying drug suspects.

“They should have conducted a thorough investigation before arresting Culata,” he added.

What’s worse, he added, Culata was found lifeless after his arrest.

In Riyadh, John Leonard Monterona, a human rights advocate, also called on the Philippine government to spare vacationing OFWs from what it called a “senseless and inhuman extrajudicial killing in the name of the government’s war on illegal drugs.”

“We were shocked and alarmed upon hearing the report about the alleged torture and killing of Culata,” he was quoted as saying by Arab News.

(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)