A good proposal
THE Philippines, a nation of English-speaking people, remains to be one of the world’s major exporters of highly-trained workers.
The billions of dollar remittances of overseas Filipino workers, many of them household workers, continue to prop up the econmy.
But admittedly some of our migrant workers, including women, are languishing in foreign jails, serving prison terms.
Government records show that a total of 1,254 OFWs are jailed abroad.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said that of the number, 954 are in Saudi Arabia, while 293 and seven are in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, respectively.
That’s why we doff our hat to Sen. Francis Escudero for calling on the DMW to pursue treaties that would allow convicted Pinoys abroad to serve their prison terms in the Philippines.
The Bicolano senator from Sorsogon aired the call during last Monday’s Senate hearing on the 2024 proposed budget of the DMW.
Escudero said the DMW ought to pursue the undertaking “in the spirit of giving second chance to our convicted countrymen.”
The proposed treaty allows an individual sentenced on another country to opt to serve his/her prison term in his/her native country.
He recalled that during last year’s DMW budget deliberation, he had brought the matter to then DMW Secretary Susan Ople.
Hopefully, the DMW will work on the proposed treaty as part of efforts to ensure the welfare of our overseas Filipino workers.
It’s a move in the right direction.
