THE president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has pardoned three Filipinos, two of them sentenced to death for drug trafficking, drawing cheers from variuous quarters in the country.

The other pardoned Filipino prisoner was serving a 15-year sentence for slander, according to UAE Ambassador to the Philippines Mohamed Obaid Salem Alqataam Alzaabi

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos relayed the “good news” to President Marcos, according to Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil.

“I am pleased to inform you that the appeal of President Ferdinand Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr…has been granted for humanitarian pardon by our President H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Biz Zayed Al Nahyan,” Abalos told Marcos.

Secretary Garafil said President Marcos had a telephone conversation with the UAE President and thanked him for heeding his request for pardon of the three Filipino convicts.

Likewise, the Filipino chief executive thanked Sheikh Mohamed for extending prompt assistance to families displaced by the ongoing Mayon Volcano unrest in Albay.

The UAE, where thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are employed, sent 50 tons of food supplies and medicine to evacuation centers in said province.

Without doubt, the pardon of the three Filipino convicts in the UAE is most welcome in poverty-stricken Philippines, which is one of the world’s major exporters of quality manpower.

The pardon of the three must raise the cue for other government officials to pick up the ball and work for the release of Filipinos still languishing in foreign detention facilities.

Dapat lang!

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