Help assured for 102 Filipinos on death row abroad — Palace

Malacañang on Saturday reassured families of the more than a hundred Filipinos on death row abroad that the Aquino government is pulling all the stops to help them. Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Group said it is “standing policy" for the government to extend all possible assistance to the affected Filipinos and make sure justice is served to them. “Kahit sino sa pamahalaan natin talagang gagawin ang makakaya para magawaran ng hustisya ang ating kababayan, lalo sa ibang bansa at kailangan ng protection," he said in an interview on government-run dzRB radio. (Anyone in the government will do everything to make sure our fellow Filipinos abroad get justice and protection.) As of July 2010, there are 102 Filipinos facing the death penalty on foreign soil. Of these, 16 are in the Middle East who are charged with murder/homicide, including rape/robbery with murder. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said 74 of these involve drug-related cases, most of which are in China. “Makakaasa tayo patuloy ang pag-monitor sa kasong yan. Di natin pababayaan na di magawaran ng hustisya at katarungan ang ating kababayan," he added. (Rest assured that we will monitor the cases. We will make sure our countrymen abroad will not be denied their rights.) At least three agencies – the DFA, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – are involved in such cases, Coloma said. While the DFA and DOLE coordinate with the proper authorities to ensure the rights of the Filipinos on death row in other countries are respected, the DSWD attends to the needs of Filipinos’ families at home. Earlier, the DFA said it is extending full legal and other assistance to Filipinos involved in death penalty cases. “All the accused OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are assisted by legal counsel and regular updates on the status of their cases are submitted by the concerned embassies or consulates general to the DFA," the DFA said. It added that the Philippine government has regularly interceded on behalf of numerous OFWs with death penalty cases, and will recommend further presidential intercessions as the need arises. The DFA said that since January 2006, 35 death penalty cases have been commuted to life imprisonment. Of these, 15 were repatriated to the Philippines while 20 are serving commuted sentences. Of the 16 pending death penalty cases in the Middle East, the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) has already obtained four signed tanazuls and currently negotiating or commencing negotiations for 10 OFWs. Meanwhile, six cases pending in China “without reprieve" are on appeal with the Chinese Supreme Court. The non-critical death penalty cases in China “with reprieve" allow a two-year suspension of sentence and possible commutation to life imprisonment for good behavior. The DFA has constantly warned OFWs from becoming drug couriers given the high penalties imposable on these offenses in China and other places. - KBK, GMANews.TV