5 Filipino drug mules in China death row
MANILA, Philippines—Lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Aquino administration to do all it can to save the lives of five Filipinos in death row in China for drug-related cases.
At the same time, they asked Malacanang to increase to budget of the Department of Labor and Employment intended to provide legal assistance to all overseas Filipino workers in distress in different parts of the world.
Representative Angelo Palmones of the party-list group Alyansa ng mga Grupo ng Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mamamayan (Agham) said the current budget of P50 million for this was not enough to cover all expenses for legal assistance to OFWs.
The case of the five Filipinos—a male and four female—was raised by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos during the hearing of the committee on OFW affairs headed by Akbayan party-list Representative Walden Bello.
Bello said the five OFWs badly needed assistance to reverse the ruling on their case and save them from the death chamber.
The Filipinos, now detained in Beijing, were arrested and sentenced for acting as drug couriers.
Palmones said he hopes Chinese authorities will consider the recent arrest of the two leaders of the drug ring in the Philippines who allegedly victimized these five Filipinos to peddle drugs.
On Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs reiterated its warning to Filipinos travelling overseas against carrying or trafficking illegal drugs.
"We warn our countrymen (to refrain) from carrying drugs when travelling overseas and especially not to accept packages which they suspect contain drugs, and also to be wary of the modus operandi being used by drug-trafficking syndicates. If they are caught, they will face very dire circumstances," Conejos said.
In Asia, there are a total of 302 drug-related cases involving Filipinos. Most of the cases are in China (205), Hong Kong (26), and Malaysia (17). There are also more female victims (221 cases) than males.
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5 Filipino drug mules in China death row - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos#
Ma-save pa kaha ni sa Philippine Gov't nya fresh pa raba ang nahitabo sa hostage crisis which is mga Chinese ang nangamatay.