Body to protect OFWs vs abuse as ‘drug mules’

The Philippine government is set to create a task force to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from being used as drug couriers and mules by drug syndicates. Outgoing Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a radio interview that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to sign an administrative order creating the task force. “As soon as the president receives the final draft from the Office of the Executive Secretary, she will definitely sign the executive order," Bello said in an interview aired over government-run dzRB radio. He added that the multi-agency task force will be composed of representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dangerous Drugs Board. “(These government agencies) can coordinate to look after our fellow Filipinos abroad who resort to drug-related activities just to earn a living," Bello said. Last month, 66 Filipinos were sentenced to death in China for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs from the People’s Republic. (See: 66 Pinoys face death in China over drug charges) The DFA has urged these OFWs to work for the possible reduction of their sentence from death penalty to life imprisonment while the government is working on ways to prevent similar incidents from happening to other Filipinos in China.—Andreo C. Calonzo/JV, GMANews.TV