33 OFWs in Brazil, Suriname detained for drug offenses

MANILA, Philippines – Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III disclosed yesterday that 33 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now detained in several prisons in Brazil and Suriname because of drug-related offenses.

Sotto said a Nigerian drug syndicate has been recruiting Filipino workers abroad as drug couriers or mules.

He said the Philippine government had been advising OFWs to stick to legitimate jobs when working abroad to avoid arrest.

Sotto said Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Teresita V.G. Barsana, also the concurrent ambassador to Colombia and Suriname, said one of those arrested for drug offenses has been detained since 2003.

Records showed that 19 of the OFWs arrested over the last five years are women, while 14 are men, with 23 of them arrested in Brazil and 10 in Suriname.

Sotto said Barsana informed Philippine authorities of the drug cases during the 6th Working Group Meeting on Politics, Culture and Education of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America (PEALAC) and the Workshop on the World Drug Problem held in Bogota, Colombia on March 18 to 19, which was attended by DDB Undersecretary Romeo Vera Cruz.

Barsana said that one OFW was arrested in 2003, one in 2004, five in 2006, five in 2007, 18 in 2008, and three this year.

She told the DDB that 23 Filipino workers were nabbed for attempting to smuggle cocaine while the other 10 were arrested for possession of prohibited substances.

Sotto said 15 cases are undergoing trial, while lower courts decided 18 others and four cases are under appeal.

Barsana informed the DDB that 69.2 kilos of cocaine was the highest quantity recovered from the possession of arrested OFWs in Brazil and Suriname while 460 grams of cocaine was the lowest.

She said that six of those arrested are permanent residents of Brazil while the rest are either tourists or are legitimate OFWs.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) also revealed that Filipino workers and tourists are being used in drug smuggling operations in China.

Reports from the Philippine embassy in Beijing show a rising trend of Filipinos being arrested by Chinese authorities for drug smuggling charges every month.

PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago noted that on March 11 alone, 16 Filipino drug couriers were apprehended in various parts of China.

He expressed deep concern over the report of Sonia Brady, Philippine Ambassador to China, who provided the agency with information on the matter.

Santiago said the travel advisory for all OFWs, including seafarers and Filipino nationals traveling abroad, to take all necessary precautions to avoid involvement in illegal drug smuggling or trafficking, is being reiterated.

Santiago said Filipino travelers caught transporting illegal drugs in China can be meted the death penalty even if they did not know they were carrying such dangerous substances.

“This heightens the urgency and significance of the International Task Group on Drug Mules, which I proposed during the recently concluded 14th Asia-Pacific Operational Drug Enforcement Conference (ADEC) which was held in Tokyo, Japan on Feb. 17 to 20. The task group will facilitate information exchange and intelligence sharing to come up with effective and efficient countermeasures,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) appealed to Filipinos to heed the government’s numerous warnings and not allow themselves to be used as couriers by drug syndicates.

The DFA said drug syndicates with wide network operations in various parts of Asia and other countries continue to use Filipinos as couriers to smuggle narcotics into mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, resulting in the arrest of 16 Filipinos.

Citing a report of the Philippine embassy in Beijing, the DFA said that as of March 11 this year, 16 Filipinos – four in Guangzhou and three each in Xiamen, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau – have been arrested for suspected drug trafficking.

“The arrest of 16 Filipinos in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau in a span of two months this year is very alarming. It also indicates that drug syndicates continue to recruit Filipinos as drug couriers unhampered,” the embassy said.

Meanwhile, a Filipina teacher suspected of killing her Taiwanese recruiter faces the death penalty if convicted, Migrante International reported yesterday.

Garry Martinez, Migrante chairman, said the Appellate Court of Taiwan is set to hand down on May 4 the verdict on the case of OFW Cecilia Alcaraz. –-Michael Punongbayan with Pia Lee-Brago, Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star