Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to make an accounting of all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are facing legal woes or languishing in jail abroad.
Escudero said the successful return of Mary Jane Veloso last Wednesday, from Indonesia, where she was sentenced to death for drug trafficking should serve as a “wake-up call” for the Philippine government to also focus on other OFWs who are facing the same situation.
Veloso, the Senate leader pointed out, spent more than 14 years in an Indonesian prison over drug trafficking charges and her repatriation “is only the first of many Filipinos similarly situated in various parts of the world.”
An Indonesian court had sentenced Veloso to death, but she was spared from execution after the late former President Benigno Aquino III made a personal appeal with his Indonesian counterpart.
She returned home after the Marcos administration successfully negotiated for her release and transfer to Philippine authorities.
“This (Veloso’s return) proves that PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos) and his government truly care for Filipinos who are in foreign lands and away from their families,” Escudero said.
In all instances, he said the state should make the Filipinos in distress overseas feel “the long arm of government to protect and shield them whenever they need help.”
The DFA, through its foreign missions, should also work alongside the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) especially when they are alerted about cases of Filipinos facing legal troubles overseas.
Part of the government assistance should also include checking on the families of the affected Filipinos to see how they can visit their loved ones deprived of liberty abroad.
Moreover, the government should explore and push for treaties with more countries that would allow Filipinos convicted in foreign courts to serve their sentences in the Philippines “so that they can be closer to their loved ones.”
“They should find out the nature of the cases against them. What has been or can be done to help them regain their liberty . . . and assist them to make their detention more bearable,” Escudero said.