83 Filipinos on death row overseas, says DFA

MANILA — About 83 Filipinos are on death row worldwide, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official told a House of Representatives panel on Thursday.

Speaking to the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortez said that Filipinos in death row overseas included 56 in Malaysia, 6 in the United Arab Emirates, 5 in Saudia Arabia, and 15 others in Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, the United States, Japan, and Brunei.

Another overseas Filipino, he pointed out, was on death row in Indonesia: Mary Jane Veloso, who was scheduled for execution in April 2015 but was given a last-minute reprieve to testify against recruiters who allegedly duped her into trafficking drugs.

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Of the 56 Filipinos awaiting execution in Malaysia, 30 were convicted of murder and 18 were for drug trafficking and smuggling.

Eight others were given a death sentence for their involvement in the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, after they traveled from Tawi-Tawi to Malaysia by boat to assert the Philippines’ unresolved territorial claim over Sabah.

"Sobrang dami po pala sa Malaysia, nobody knows about it… Medyo nababahala po ako, [kasi] in the first place gaano karami ba po yung pinapadala nating OFW sa Malaysia… I think that's staggering, " said Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo, the House panel’s chairman, reacting to Cortez’s presentation.

(It turns out so many Filipinos are on death row in Malaysia, nobody knows about it. I am a bit alarmed because how many Filipinos are. we sending to Malaysia?)

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Cortez replied that the death row cases were already final, and that Philippine authorities were only hoping for a pardon to spare the 56 Filipinos from capital punishment.

Salo also called on the government to establish better monitoring mechanisms for Filipinos abroad, and asked officials from the DFA and Department of Migrant (DMW) what their methods of monitoring were.

"Over the years nag-improve po iyong monitoring sa regulatory mechanisms natin, " DMW Undersecretary Hans Cacdac told the panel.

(Monitoring in our regulatory mechanisms have improved over the years.)

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1,450 FILIPINOS DIE OVERSEAS

Meanwhile, the DFA also bared that as of 2022, there were 1,450 overseas Filipino workers who died abroad. The government has so far spent about P288.5 million to bring their remains home.

The top causes of death for Filipino migrant workers included COVID-19, vehicular accidents, natural causes and medical illnesses. But Cortez clarified that there could be discrepancies in the reported COVID deaths.

Some 27 Filipinos also died of foul play, including 8 in Saudi Arabia, 5 in South Africa, 4 in Kuwait and 3 in Cyprus.

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The DFA also shared that 1,267 overseas Filipinos were still detained for pending cases, while 2,104 had pending cases but were not under detention.

Cortez noted that some Filipinos abroad did not want to make their cases known to their nearest Philippine embassies or consulates because they were already permanent residents of the country they were living in.

Salo said that the data bared by the DFA would help the House committee in “coming up with measures or policies that, we hope, could help prevent or address such criminal cases.”

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