DFA says 81 Filipinos are on death row abroad

Department of Foreign Affairs. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported Wednesday that 81 Filipinos are on death row overseas, and vowed to do all it can to avert the execution of their sentence.

“The DFA continues to work hard and exhausts all diplomatic channels available to ensure that no death penalty sentence is executed against any of our kababayans (fellow countrymen). Currently, there are 81 death penalty cases involving overseas Filipinos,” the DFA Assistance to Nationals data sheet states.

According to the agency, one of its important interventions regarding Filipinos on death row abroad includes the rescinding of a death sentence meted on two Filipinos in Saudi Arabia for having an illicit affair.

In 2022, their death penalty sentence was reduced to nine-year imprisonment, the DFA noted.

Acquittals

The DFA likewise reported securing acquittals for 135 overseas Filipinos facing various charges abroad.

Acquittals, it explained, “involve going through the entire criminal trial process where the Court eventually finds that the Filipino accused is not guilty of the crime charged.”

“Contrary to media reports that the DFA has not successfully obtained an acquittal for 2022, the DFA reports that based on figures sent by our FSPs (Foreign Service Posts), a total of 135 acquittals were secured by the DFA through the Legal Assistance Fund in 2022,” the DFA said.

“Most of the acquittals involved retaliatory cases filed against household service workers (HSWs) in the Middle East for theft, absconding, and breach of trust,” it added.

But in a Senate hearing in January this year, the DFA reported that they have zero acquittals of Filipinos facing criminal charges abroad in the first half of 2022.

READ: DFA exec grilled over zero acquittal of overseas Filipinos from criminal raps

The agency argued that from January-June 2022, most nations in Asia and Middle East were observing tight COVID-19 protocols, hence, courts were closed and there was a “general slowdown in the resolution of cases.”

But from 2018-2022, the DFA said, it secured 556 acquittals through the Legal Assistance Fund.

Pardons

The DFA likewise reported that through the Legal Assistance Fund, 354 convicted Filipinos overseas from 2018-2022 have been pardoned.

“Many of the pardoned cases are for drug trafficking, prostitution, and theft,” it noted.

Meanwhile, the Assistance to Nationals – in which embassies and consulates provide legal, humanitarian, and reparation aid to distressed Filipinos overseas – will be under the Department of Migrant Workers by the end of June, the DFA said.

READ: DMW set to take over certain DFA tasks

KGA