No fewer than 44 Filipinos are on the death row overseas, reported the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
DMW budget sponsor Senator Joel Villanueva revealed that 41 of these Filipinos are in Malaysia, two in Brunei, and one case is in Saudi Arabia, with drug-related and murder cases, primarily.
Several of Filipinos convicted in Malaysia were drug mules or caught transporting drugs or in possession of illegal substances.
“The (DMW) in Malaysia provided financial assistance to the workers and is regularly monitoring their conditions,” Villanueva told the Senate during its plenary deliberations on the proposed 2025 national budget.
The executions of the two found guilty of murder in Brunei have been postponed due to a temporary ban on death penalties in the country. Villanueva assured that the Migrant Workers Office consistently visits and is monitoring both, and has aided their families when visiting.
As for the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia, she was meted out a death sentence after allegedly stabbing her employer to death, who verbally and physically abused her. Claiming the act had been in self-defense, she submitted a petition through the DMW’s retainer lawyer, Villanueva said. She has been imprisoned for around seven years now.
The DMW has been in talks with the employer’s family, in an endeavor to have them accept the reparative payment.
