Array
The clock is ticking for 44 Filipinos on death row abroad, as Philippine diplomats quietly plead with host governments for mercy on behalf of our imprisoned compatriots, some if not most of whom are victims of injustice in one form or another.
Oddly enough, the information didn’t come directly from either the Department of Migrant Workers or the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), but from Sen. Joel Villanueva, who sponsored the DMW’s proposed 2025 budget on the Senate floor last week.
Citing data from the DMW, the senator said 41 of the Filipinos awaiting execution were in Malaysia, two in Brunei, and the last in Saudi Arabia. All but eight of the convicts in Malaysia were men, most of them caught in possession of illegal drugs. One of the Brunei cases involved a Filipino driver convicted for the murder of a local, and the other for stabbing his girlfriend to death. The lone Saudi case was a woman sentenced to die for killing her abusive employer.
Little else was reported, however, about the progress of Philippine appeals to delay and ultimately stop the enforcement of capital punishment on the Filipinos.
It is understandable that these cases are shrouded in secrecy on account of the sensitivity of the crimes in question or the countries’ legal obligation to protect the privacy of victims and perpetrators alike.
But one other recent case gives us pause—the Oct. 5 execution of a male overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia, who killed a local purportedly in self-defense. The execution was not disclosed by the DFA until Oct. 8, presumably to give time for emissaries to properly inform the man’s family.
