Senator proposes prisoner-exchange treaties with OFW-hosting countries

MANILA, Philipppines — Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero is urging the government to initiate prisoner-exchange treaties with countries hosting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, made this proposal on Monday, two days after Vice President Jejomar Binay returned from a trip to China to plead for three Filipinos—Ramon Credo, Sally Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain—who have been sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

China’s Supreme Court, as a result, postponed indefinitely the executions, which were supposed to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

He said the government could work out a prisoner-exchange arrangement with other countries similar to the RP-Spain Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement, which aims to ensure the effective reformation and rehabilitation of Filipinos serving sentences in Spain since they will be afforded the opportunity to serve their sentences in the Philippines.

“We have OFWs serving long sentences and are awaiting death sentences in countries where no family can visit them. This is already a scourge to both the convicted and their families. The anguish of not being able to talk to or see their families forever is already a sentence that amounts to death,” he said in a statement.

The prisoner-exchange agreement, Escudero said, should be pursued through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) by way of a bilateral treaty.

But it should not be on a quid-pro-quo basis, which means that all prisoners should be transferred to their country of origin regardless of the number of foreign nationals in Philippine prisons, said the senator.

“We should pursue this treaty especially since we have more citizens in foreign jails rather than the other way around. We should pursue this move not because we condone their deeds but because it is the government’s duty to look after the welfare of its citizens no matter if they are guilty or not,” he pointed out.

“Let all available remedies and steps be exhausted to afford our fellows the services of their government,” he further said.

Records from the DFA showed that there are more than 3,000 Filipinos abroad who are either in detention or facing criminal prosecution. Seventy percent of them are embroiled in immigration-related offenses and will be deported after serving brief sentences. The rest are in custody for such crimes as theft and drug trafficking.

In China, 78 Filipinos have been convicted for drug charges and awaiting death sentences.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has recorded 630 Filipinos currently serving jail sentences abroad for drug trafficking, most of them having served as mules for drug lords. Sixty-two percent of them are female. (report from Maila Ager, Inquirer.net)