UAE: Paralysed expat with Dh93,000 blood money debt seeks help to return home after 31 years

A 69-year-old Filipino man in Sharjah, paralysed and struggling to make ends meet, is holding onto the hope that the UAE’s ongoing visa amnesty programme will finally allow him to return home after 31 years. Ernesto Arnel Tawat, once a thriving chef and entrepreneur, has faced an unrelenting series of setbacks since a tragic accident in 2006 changed the course of his life.

Ernesto, who worked as a chef at the now-demolished Ramada Hotel in Bur Dubai, had left his job to start a food business catering to the Filipino community. However, his life took a devastating turn on May 23, 2006, when his car fatally struck a pedestrian in Sharjah's Al Nahda area. The victim, a Pakistani man, was crossing the road at an undesignated spot. The incident triggered a chain of events that led to years of financial and legal struggles for Ernesto and his family.

Following the accident, Ernesto was jailed for over a year and ordered to pay Dh203,000 in blood money to the victim's family. With limited resources, Ernesto and his wife, Teresa, began making payments in instalments while trying to keep their food business afloat.

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Court records show Ernesto has paid Dh110,000 so far, leaving a balance of Dh93,000. However, their business collapsed in 2015, forcing the family out of their home and halting their daughter Tina’s education. As their financial woes deepened, Ernesto’s health deteriorated, leaving him fully paralysed on the right side of his body, and unable to work.

In 2014, the Sharjah Federal Court annulled the case after the victim's family reportedly dropped the execution order. However, Ernesto's relief short-lived. When he applied for the amnesty in 2018, immigration officials denied his request, citing a travel ban due to the remaining unpaid blood money.

Now, living in a rundown apartment in Sharjah’s Al Yarmook area, Ernesto and Teresa rely on their daughter Tina’s modest income for survival. Tina, who was born and raised in the UAE, supports her parents despite struggling with chronic asthma and her own health issues.

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'I just want a second chance'

“All I want is to go home. I have not seen my country in 35 years,” Ernesto said tearfully during a conversation with Khaleej Times.

He first arrived in the UAE in 1986 and has only returned to the Philippines once, in 1993, when Tina was just six months old. “I came here, fell in love with the country, and got engrossed in work,” Ernesto said. “We visited my home once, but after that, it never happened. Now I am stuck here.”

Reflecting on the tragic accident that changed his life, Ernesto added, "I've carried the weight of that accident every single day of my life. It was a tragedy, and I am deeply sorry for the life lost. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. But I’ve suffered too. I lost everything — my health, my livelihood, and my future.”

“I just want a second chance,” Ernesto continued. “There’s no way I can raise so much money when I have no income, and my resident status is not regularised. I don’t even have a passport; it’s stuck in court. I spend my days in bed, unable to move, thinking about the life I lost and the people I haven’t seen in decades.”

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