OFW hangs self in Saudi

CAYETANO. There are around a million Filipinos in Saudi Arabia

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano expressed yesterday sadness over the reported suicide of another overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Cayetano extended the government’s condolences to the family of the 36-year-old furniture factory worker from Pangasinan after learning of the incident from the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah.

“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,” said Cayetano.

“We mourn with those he left behind,” he added. “Government assistance to the family of the OFW is underway.”

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

Badajos said they are now trying to contact the family of the OFW.

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.

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

It was the second reported suicide involving an OFW in the western region of Saudi Arabia.

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.