Escudero wants prisoner-swap treaties with other countries

(Updated 4:30 p.m.) Senator Francis Escudero on Monday urged the Philippine government to initiate prisoner exchange treaties with countries housing overseas Filipino workers (OFW) amid the pending execution of three Filipinos in China over drug trafficking. In a statement, Escudero said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) can work out, by way of a bilateral treaty, a "prisoner-exchange agreement" with other countries similar to the Philippines-Spain Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement. “We have OFWs serving long sentences and are awaiting death sentences in countries where no family can visit them. This is already a scourge to both the convicted and their families. The anguish of not being able to talk to or see their families forever is already a sentence that amounts to death," said Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights. The agreement with Spain allows Filipinos sentenced there to serve their prison term in the Philippines and vice versa. It hit the headlines in late 2009 when it became the basis for the transfer of convict Francisco Juan "Paco" Larrañaga, a dual citizen of Filipino and Spanish descent, to Spain. Larrañaga and six others were convicted of kidnapping, illegal detention, rape and homicide in connection with the 1997 rape and death of the sisters Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong in Cebu. Escudero's proposal came as he cited DFA records showing that more than 3,000 Filipinos abroad are either in detention or facing criminal prosecution. Of this number, he said 70 percent are involved in immigration-related offenses and will be deported after serving brief sentences. On the other hand, the rest are in custody for crimes such as theft and drug trafficking. Advantage For his part, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said a similar agreement with other countries can be to the country's "advantage" because there are around 10 million Filipinos abroad. "Unawain natin na marami sa nakukulong dun ay either abused o kaya mga simple mistakes na di mo sila masisi, dala talaga ng kahirapan o desperate kaya dapat tulungan talaga natin nang husto (We should understand that many of Filipinos jailed abroad are either abused or just committeed simple mistakes so you can't really blame them. Some are just forced into the situation by poverty and desperation, so we really have to help them)," Cayetano told reporters in an interview on Monday. Not possible? But Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said that the government should not help Filipinos who have been convicted abroad for drug-related offenses. "We would be sending a wrong message to drug traffickers, to these drug syndicates, to those who fall prey to these drug syndicates and maybe to overseas Filipino that 'the government will protect me in the end'," Sotto said in a separate interview. In addition, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said those who are sentenced to die cannot be covered by such an agreement. She likewise said that the Philippines cannot propose the treaty unilaterally. "That has to be a mutual (agreement between) the Philippines and the country that we wish to extend those relations with," she said. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also said that he does not know whether establishing similar agreements is possible because there are only a few foreign nationals imprisoned in the country. "That (Spain) was a special case," he said in a separate interview. Still, Escudero said the treaty should be on a “quid-pro-quo-basis," meaning all prisoners should be transferred to their country of origin regardless of the number of foreign nationals in Philippine prisons. “We should pursue this treaty especially since we have more citizens in foreign jails rather than the other way around. We pursue this move not because we condone their deeds but because it is the government’s duty to look after the welfare of its citizens no matter if they are guilty or not," he said. — Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK/RSJ, GMA News