Filipino officials in Saudi Arabia are mourning for a colleague who died in a hospital in Riyadh where he was rushed for a lingering illness last Tuesday. Labor Attache Boscay Acraman died Tuesday night at the Al-Hammadi Hospital in Riyadh where he had been treated every now and then for a kidney illness, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh said. He was 52. “Attaché Acraman was diagnosed with kidney problems late last year but his illness did not deter his fortitude to perform with exemplary dedication his official duties,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its website. “He even refused to go on leave and assume other tasks with minimal responsibilities even (after) his health condition started to deteriorate in May,” it added. “Unfortunately, his body succumbed to kidney failure and he died after he was rushed to the hospital (Tuesday),” it added. Acraman, known to his friends as “Bobby,” was born in Marantao, Lanao Del Sur. He had served the Department of Foreign Affairs for almost two decades. Before his posting in Riyadh in January 2007, Acraman had been assigned to Tehran, Iran and Vientiane, Laos. In Riyadh, he handled cases of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) involving liquor, theft, embezzlement and immorality. The militant group Migrante International has praised him for helping distressed Filipino male workers. “He was a big help to the Philippine post in Riyadh in attending to the welfare cases of distress OFWs,” said Leonard Monterona, Migranted-Middle East regional coordinator, in a statement. The embassy said Acraman's body was laid to rest Wednesday before sundown in Umm Al- Hammam cemetery in Riyadh in accordance with Muslim rites. Meanwhile, another embassy employee has been detained in Riyadh for over two months now for his alleged involvement in the death of a woman. Bashir Ayob, a staff of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, has been detained at the Deira jail but no charges has been filed against him, Labor Attaché Alberto Valenciano said in an interview that Ayob, 42, from Tacurong City in Sultan Kudarat, was arrested on June 12 while attending to the requirement of OFWs to be repatriated. His wife, Janet, a Filipina nurse in Riyadh, said Ayob was arrested after bringing to the hospital an unidentified pregnant woman, an OFW, who eventually died due to severe bleeding. Valenciano said Ambassador Antonio Villamor has already sent a note verbale to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting that a meeting between him and the deputy minister of interior be arranged. “We have to follow the diplomatic process. For now, this is the most that we can do,” Valenciano told GMANews.TV. “We have already filed a motion for his release. The embassy is on top of the situation but we can only do so much based on local laws,” he said. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Carmelita Dimzon said in a separate interview that based on reports, Ayob was arrested because “he violated the law of Saudi Arabia.” “Reportedly he brought a woman to the hospital and the woman died. Under Saudi laws, you should not just leave a dead person in the hospital and instead report it to authorities. He reportedly failed to do that,” Dimzon said.
