7,200 Filipinos in jail abroad

House leaders on Wednesday expressed alarm over the rising cases of Filipinos landing in jail abroad, with their number exceeding 7, 200.

The House committee on overseas thus urged the Aquino government to come up with a plan to set free thousands of Filipinos jailed for various offenses, ranging from violation of immigration laws to drug trafficking.

In House Resolution 1979, lawmakers stressed the need for the State to step up its campaign to go after drug syndicates that victimize migrant workers.

“Perhaps the most controversial issue today confrontingworkers is the growing number of those involved in drug trafficking cases abroad,” the resolution read.

The filing of the resolution came as a 34 year old Filipino drug mule is scheduled for execution Thursday.

Early this year, three Filipino workers were executed by lethal injection in China for drug-related cases.

The committee chairman Walden Bello of Akbayan and Kaka Bag-ao authored the resolution.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara cited Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reports as of December 2010 that a total of 7,209 Filipinos who were either imprisoned or had pending cases in courts in six continents as of December 2010.

“If Filipinos are scattered all over the world, so are those who are in jail. The inconvenient truth is that many of those who have joined the great Filipino Diaspora have ended up in a drab, dark and dirty foreign prison,” Angara said.

“Our poor fellow Filipinos were behind bars or in the dock in 66 countries, from up in the Andes, where 35 alleged Filipina drug mules were awaiting their fate in Peru, to deep in Africa in Tanzania where 8 Filipinos were battling for their freedom in court, to strife-torn Syria where 27 domestics were up for trial or deportation, to China where 157 Filipinos were in prison for drug trafficking, 60 of whom had been meted with the death penalty.” –Maricel Cruz, Manila Standard Today