DMW should explore treaties granting convicted OFWs to serve prison terms in Phl—Escudero

The Department of Migrant Workers should explore and pursue treaties with other countries that would grant convicted overseas Filipino workers to instead serve their prison term in the Philippines, Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero said Tuesday.

In his interpellation during the chamber's deliberation of the 2024 proposed budget of the DMW, Escudero said the DMW should include this undertaking in its priority program "in the spirit of giving second chances for our convicted countrymen or even those classified as detention prisoners" abroad.

The DMW said there are some 1,254 OFWs currently in prison as to date. Of the figure, 293 are imprisoned in Asia-Pacific, 7 in Europe, and 954 in the Middle East.

"I remember when there was a Spanish national in the Philippines who was imprisoned for allegedly killing someone in Cebu, and the very first thing Spain did was to negotiate and try to enter into a treaty with the Philippines with respect to prisoner exchange," said Escudero.

The senator cited the previous case of Francisco "Paco" Larrañaga in Cebu involving the abduction of sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline Chiong on 16 July 1997 outside Ayala Center.

The sensational case became known as the "trial of the decade" in the Visayas due to the prominence of the suspects, including Larrañaga, whose mother was a cousin of the late Cebu governor Emilio Osmeña.

Escudero said the case prompted the Spanish government to have the Treaty of Sentenced Persons Agreement or TSPA, signed between the Philippines and Spain on 18 May 2007— that was also ratified on the same year by the Senate.

"Given that we have so many OFWs, whose victims may be a fellow Filipino working abroad or a foreign national, wouldn't it be an opportune time for the Philippines to have been doing this similar thing?" Escudero asked as he raised reviving of the idea.

The TSPA with Spain paved the way for the Philippines to have similar agreements with the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

The treaty allows Filipinos sentenced in other countries "to have the option to serve their sentences" in the Philippines.

For instance, those Filipinos convicted in the UK can now choose to serve their remaining sentences in the Philippines under the country's existing treaty with the UK.

Escudero said the government should explore such a treaty with the Middle East and other Southeast Asian countries, with a huge number of Filipinos convicted in these areas.

"It would be a different matter for us to succeed or get that treaty, your Honor. But at the very least, we should pursue it lalo na sa Middle East and Southeast Asia where we have a huge number of Filipinos. Ang pagkakaiba po kasi, if we have this treaty, may pagkakataong dito niya pagsisilbihan sa Pilipinas iyong kanyang sentensya para mas malapit-lapit naman na mabisita siya ng kanyang mga kamag-anak kada Pasko man, kada birthday, o kung gaano nila kadalas na kakayaning gawin," he lamented.

"If an OFW is convicted, let us say to suffer the penalty of 30-year incarceration in Saudi Arabia for example, and the family is poor, the next time they see each other will be 30 years after already because I doubt if the family can visit him every year and spend that much to travel. And they are not even sure if they can see the convicted relative whenever they do visit that place," he continued.