Binay to OFWs in China: Follow host country’s laws

Noting that a growing number of Filipinos in China face illegal recruitment, and are often charged with overstaying and drug trafficking, Vice President Jejomar Binay on Sunday urged Filipinos there to follow the laws of their host country as well.

“Hinihimok ko po kayo na sundin natin ang regulasyon ng bansang ito (I am urging you to follow the laws of this country),” Binay said as he addressed the Filipino community in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

“Hangad ko ang inyong suporta at kooperasyon na mapaalalahanan ang ating mga kababayan nang sa gayon ay maiwasan ang mga ganitong problema (I am also asking for your support and cooperation in reminding our compatriots about this so we can prevent these kinds of problems from happening), ” he said.

Binay, who is also the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, was in China upon the invitation of the Chinese government to attend the opening of the 2010 Asian Para Games, a multi-sport event for Asian athletes with disabilities.

Binay cited a report by Consul General Joselito Jimeno that said a number of Filipinos in China who were victims of illegal recruitment are now facing charges for overstaying.

According to Jimeno’s report, upon finding out that their visas were not processed, Filipinos often opted to stay in China and found employment there to compensate for their financial loss, the report said.

Charged with drug trafficking in China

Desperate to earn money, Filipinos even get recruited to become “drug mules” or couriers smuggling illegal drugs out of the country, Binay said. At times, they were even “willing victims.”

In China, trafficking of 50 grams or more of an illegal drug is punishable by 15 years imprisonment, life imprisonment or death.

According to Binay, two Filipinos are now facing the death penalty for drug trafficking in China; the Department of Foreign Affairs said earlier that five Filipinos are on China’s death row.

The majority of the 302 Filipinos facing drug-related cases in Asia, or 205, are in China, the DFA also revealed.

Among the drug-related cases in China, four women and a man have been meted the death penalty without reprieve and 70 are facing death with a two-year reprieve. Thirty-five Filipinos were slapped with life imprisonment sentences, 68 have fixed-term imprisonment cases, while 27 cases remained pending.

Under China’s criminal law, capital punishment with a two-year reprieve means that convicts are given two years to undergo “reform through labor,” after which the sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment if the convicts are deemed to have shown genuine repentance for their crimes.

Pinoy drug mules

Overseas-bound Filipino workers have fallen prey to drug syndicates recruiting couriers or mules, to transport—often unwittingly—illegal drugs inside their luggage or shoes or fabric buttons.

In July, Derrick Carreon, spokesperson of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the Filipino trait of pakikisama (getting-along) proves to be the Achilles’ heel that is being exploited by drug syndicates.

Carreon said he has heard stories of Filipinos who are asked by strangers, usually good-natured foreigners, to tuck certain packages inside their luggage in exchange for cash or sometimes, even for free.

More recently, syndicates have come up with more dangerous ways of smuggling prohibited substances, like stuffing or even surgically sewing narcotics inside the bodies of Filipino couriers.

Searching for solutions

In the same speech in Guangzhou, Binay assured Filipino OFWs that the DFA, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other related government agencies are working out a “comprehensive response” to address their concerns.

He also spoke about the P1-billion loan fund for OFWs that President Benigno Aquino III approved recently, saying this will help returning overseas workers set up businesses and livelihood opportunities back home.

“Ang layunin ng kasalukuyang administrasyon ay hanapan ng solusyon ang kahirapan sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng trabaho at sapat na kita sa ating kababayan nang sa gayon ang pangingibang bansa ay magiging isa na lamang alternatibo at hindi na pangangailangan (The goal of the current administration is to find solutions to poverty by creating good-paying jobs so that overseas employment becomes only one option and not a dire need),” Binay said. – DM/KBK, GMANews.TV