The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan joined the Filipino people in mourning the deaths of three Overseas Filipino Workers in China after they were executed following convictions on drug trafficking.
“Bayan extends its deepest condolences to the families of the three OFW’s who were executed today in China. Regardless of what they were accused of, the deaths are the tragic result of poverty in the Philippines. This is a wake-up call, a grim reminder of the dire straits faced today by Filipinos here and abroad,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“Economic desperation has forced tens of thousands of Filipinos to find work abroad, legally or illegally. They wittingly or unwittingly face dangers just so they could provide for their families. The lives of Sally Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain are symptomatic of the lives and experiences of many Filipinos abroad,” Reyes said.
Bayan said it believed the affidavit of Villanueva who says she was an unwitting victim of a drug trafficker who placed heroin in her suitcase.
According to the group Migrante, there are 125 Filipinos on death row in various prisons abroad. Many of them come from poor families and often do not have adequate legal assistance from Philippine authorities.
“What happened to our three kababayans should make the government rethink and abandon its labor-export policy. Government should work to provide long-term employment opportunities in the country so that Filipinos will not have to go abroad and be vulnerable to exploitation. Government should also exert more effort to protect OFW’s from drug traffickers and others who are out to exploit them,” Reyes said.
“Unless government changes its policy, Sally, Ramon and Elizabeth may not be the last. We raise concern over the 125 Filipinos on death row abroad. We raise concern over the hundreds more who are detained,” he added. ###
from: bayan.ph
