In 2005, Melody said the DFA asked them to stop publicizing Rey’s case. “Sinunod namin tapos ganyan lang pala mangyayari,” (We followed their advice and still nothing happened.) she said, adding that what she really wanted was to ask media’s help to publicize her husband’s case and get attention and pressure from anyone and anywhere.

BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
MIGRANT WATCH
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 19, June 17-23, 2007

Reynaldo “Rey” Cortez’s life was not saved from Saudi’s death row. He was beheaded on June 13. To add to the family’s woes, his body could not be repatriated thus, the family could not pay their last respects after missing him for nine years. Even more heartbreaking, the miserable beheaded overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was reportedly buried “unofficial, secret and unmarked,” said a migrant leader.

Government neglect?

Is Rey another victim of government neglect?

Rey was able to make a phone call to his mother in Sorsogon, clueless that he would b beheaded that June 13.

A few weeks before Rey’s sudden beheading, he was texting his family and Migrante International expressing his worries. Rey was sentenced to death after killing a Pakistani driver who allegedly attempted to molest him in 2002.

On May 10 at 6:38 a.m., Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante International chairperson, received a text message from Rey which read, “Kapag di talaga inasikaso ng ating gobyerno ang kaso ko, talagang mapuputulan ako ng ulo. Kasi ayaw talaga ako patawarin ng pamilya.” (If the government does not follow-up my case, I would really be beheaded. The family of the Pakistani refuses to pardon me.) She texted Rey on June 1 but got no reply

Although prohibited, the migrant leader said detained OFWs smuggle in their cellular phones while in jail because that is the only way they could communicate with their loved ones in the Philippines.

Just this month, Rey texted his wife Melody relating the same concern.

“Nagtetext na s’ya sa ’kin na ilang araw o oras na lang baka pugutan na s’ya,” (He texted me that it may only be a matter of days or hours before he would be beheaded.) recalled Melody. On June 12, she asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for any development on her husband’s case. “Sabi nag-aantay din daw sila ng update mula Riyadh,” (They said they were also waiting for updates from Riyadh.) relayed the dismayed wife.

Melody told Bulatlat that DFA counsel Roel Garcia used to inform them about the results of the hearings on Rey’s case. But she lamented, “Kung ’di mo naman tatawagan ’di mo sila makakausap sa kaso n’ya.” (But if I don’t call them to follow-up, I won’t get any information regarding Rey’s case.)

When Rey was jailed in 2002, the couple was not able to communicate for a year. She said that Rey was forced to embrace Islam in the belief he might be spared from the death sentence. “Wala namang naitulong ’yun, napugutan pa rin sya,”(It didn’t help as he was beheaded anyway.) she said, adding that Rey sent them a copy of the Quran, holy book or bible in Islam, and other related reading materials in an effort to convince them to convert to Islam from being Jehovah’s Witnesses because he believed that it might have a bearing on his case.

In a dialogue with DFA officials twice this month, June 1 and 6, Bragas-Regalado said, the agency’s officials seemed to be too careful not to offend the family of the Pakistani driver as they might not pardon Rey. But the DFA officials seemed not to consider how Rey’s family was feeling with the slow pace in the developments of the case.

In 2005, Melody said the DFA asked them to stop publicizing Rey’s case. “Sinunod namin tapos ganyan lang pala mangyayari,” (We followed their advice and still nothing happened.) she said, adding that what she really wanted was to ask media’s help to publicize her husband’s case and get attention and pressure from anyone and anywhere.

She added that she was given only P10,000 ($215.56 at an exchange rate of $1=P46.39) by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in 2005 and two months supply of rice.

Bragas-Regalado said that even in the reading of Rey’s sentence in 2005, there was no representative from the Philippine embassy in Saudi Arabia who attended.

And when Rey was beheaded on June 13, it was Jonathan Panlilio of Migrante International who first informed the family about it. Melody said the DFA confirmed the bad news 30 minutes after.

“Pa’no na po ngayon? Ano na po bang gagawin natin eh yung hinahabol nating buhay wala na?” (What are we going to do now? Now that the life we are trying to save is gone.) the hysterical Melody asked the DFA personnel who called her. The DFA official, Melody said, hanged up the phone.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita admitted that even the government was “surprised” with the beheading.

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