MANILA — The Philippine Consulate in Jeddah hired a Saudi law firm to provide legal assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and monitor the cases of eight Filipinos facing death.
“The Consulate recently hired a Saudi Law Firm to handle police, labor and criminal cases involving OFWs. We currently have eight death penalty cases,” Philippine Consul General to Jeddah Edgar Badajos said Thursday.
The eight Filipinos are charged with various serious offenses, including murder, which are punishable by death.
Badajos said the hiring of a “very competent” Saudi law firm indicates that the death penalty cases are being “closely attended to” by the Philippine government through its consulate in Jeddah.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that as of Aug. 2, 2017, Filipinos facing the death penalty abroad totaled 75: one each in Bahrain, Kuwait, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Vietnam; two each in China and the United States; 25 in Saudi Arabia and 41 in Malaysia.
Congress earlier approved the executive branch’s request to increase the Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Fund from PHP400 million to PHP1 billion, and the Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) from PHP100 million to PHP200 million for 2018.
In December 2017, the DFA signed the new guidelines on its use.
The DFA earlier said it is in a better position to effectively respond to the growing number of distressed Filipinos abroad who require government assistance, with the relaxed guidelines in using ATN and LAF. (PNA)
