DFA Condoles With Kin Of OFW In Saudi Arabia Who Allegedly Committed Suicide

31 July 2018 – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) tonight extended its condolences to the family of an overseas Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia who allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself early this morning.

“It saddens us whenever a kababayan leaves his family to go overseas to give them a better future only to end up taking his own life,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said after he was informed of the incident.

“We mourn with those he left behind,” Secretary Cayetano said.

The Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, which reported the death to the Home Office early this evening, said it is still trying to contact the family members of the 36-year-old furniture factory worker from Pangasinan.

Consul General Edgar Badajos said the death was reported to the Consulate General by a Filipino co-worker of the deceased.

Consul General Badajos said he was told the body was found by an Indian co-worker hanging from a cord around his neck at the bottom of the stairs of their company-provided accommodation at around 6 a.m. today.

The Consulate General immediately dispatched a team to the police station that has jurisdiction over the place of the incident to gather additional information

This is the second reported suicide involving an overseas Filipino worker in the western region of Saudi Arabia, which is under the jurisdiction of the Consulate General.

In April, a household service worker was reported to have jumped to her death from her employer’s apartment in Madinah. Her death is still under investigation.

There are around a million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia with about 250,000 based in the western region. END