OFW Party-list Rep. Marissa Magsino wants the House of Representatives to look into the state of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who have been placed on "death row" or those facing capital punishment in other countries.
For this purpose, Magsino authored and filed House Resolution (HR) No. 684. It is pending before the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs.
The title of the resolution partly reads, "A resolution urging the appropriate committee/s of the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the status of overseas Filipino workers convicted of capital offenses and awaiting execution on 'death rows' in the host countries."
Magsino said such inquiry would give the Philippine government an idea of how to assist the OFWs on death row "and to determine the need for more effective interventions to save their lives and ensure justice on their behalf".
In the resolution, the neophyte solon cited a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) report that said there were 65 OFW death convicts as of September 2022.
Of the figure, 48 are male while 17 are female.
Among these cases is that of Mary Jane Veloso, who was arrested in Indonesia for alleged possession of the illegal drug heroin and was sentenced to death back in 2010. She has maintained her innocence throughout these years.