There were no Filipinos on death row executed this year due to the continuing government aid through its legal assistance fund (LAF), the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
For DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega, this is one of the agency’s major accomplishments in 2022 on top of the safe evacuation of Filipinos in war-torn Ukraine early this year.
“If you notice we have countrymen facing various cases overseas. There are no Filipinos executed abroad this year,” he said in a Laging Handa briefing Wednesday.
The diplomat attributed this zero execution to DFA’s close coordination with host governments as well as direct engagement between the heads of state.
Based on the latest data from the DFA as of Nov. 11, there are 65 Filipinos on death row abroad.
DFA’s LAF is made available for overseas Filipinos and migrant workers from the time of arrest to the trial proper and at all levels of appeal, especially for those charged with crimes punishable by life imprisonment or death.
It may also be used for immigration or deportation cases and labor disputes.
The DFA has so far disbursed 99.69 percent of its P200 million LAF and assisted a total of 6,000 OFWs as of Dec. 23.
In addition to LAF, the DFA also utilizes its P1 billion assistance-to-nationals (ATN) fund which covers welfare assistance for both documented and undocumented Filipinos in need of government assistance, mostly repatriation.
The agency has utilized 89.06 percent of the said fund and extended help to more than 120,000 Filipinos.
This year, thousands of distressed Filipinos were also sent home by the DFA with more than a hundred more trafficking victims expected to be repatriated from Southeast Asia.
De Vega said most of these trafficking victims were promised data encoding jobs and the likes but ended up working for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators and scams.