JEDDAH, 13 December 2007 — A Filipino aircon technician in Jeddah died early yesterday in an apparent suicide, leaving behind two young children and his pregnant wife.
Marlon Martinez, who works at Balubaid Co., was declared dead on arrival at the Dr. Erfan & Bagedo Hospital in Faisaliyah District at past 1 a.m., less than an hour after he was found hanging in their apartment unit by his wife, Elenita.
In an interview, Elenita said she and her husband had just finished talking about their financial difficulties before 12 midnight on Tuesday when her husband told her to get their kids to sleep as he was going out of their bedroom.
“I was wondering what was taking him so long to return. When I came out of the room, I saw him hanging at the sala,” the wife said in an interview.
Elenita said her husband has been suffering from depression over financial problems, starting from the time his first employer terminated his services in December 2006.
“He was so distraught that he was not working and I have become the breadwinner of the family,” said the wife, who works at Erfan as a respiratory therapist. “He kept telling me he was so sorry that he was not earning enough and that we were still unable to repay our debts,” she added.
According to Elenita and their family friends, the 29-year-old from Atimonan town in Quezon province, east of Manila, filed a case with the Saudi Labor Office against her original employer for terminating his contract.
As settlement, the employer agreed to release Martinez to another sponsor if he pays SR3,000.
“We paid that amount because Balubaid was willing to hire my husband. However, the sponsor did not comply with his commitment and my husband felt so bad about the double injury inflicted on him,” Elenita said in Tagalog.
As a result of the original sponsor’s alleged perfidy, Martinez had to leave the Kingdom in July and returned on Sept. 26 under the sponsorship of Balubaid.
“Even then, he always worried about our getting mired in debt. I kept assuring him that we will soon recover but he was always worried,” Elenita said.
Beth Renole, a family friend of the couple, said what Elenita did not know was that Martinez’s problems were aggravated by the hospitalization of his mother in the Philippines.
“He was keeping his problems to himself because he did not want to compound the worries of his wife,” Renole said in a separate interview.
A nanny for the Martinez’s kids, who gave her name only as Tita Glo, said she also noticed that Martinez was always depressed.
Because of the unnatural causes of Martinez’s death, his body was brought to King Abdulaziz Hospital for autopsy. Police said they were also inviting those who helped rush the victim to hospital for questioning.
