SENATOR Chiz Escudero wants the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to pursue prisoner swap agreements with foreign governments.
The abogado said it’s only right for the agency to seek the repatriation of Filipino nationals that will let them serve jail sentences in their home country rather than abroad.
“I remember when there was a Spanish national in the Philippines who was imprisoned for allegedly killing someone in Cebu, and the very first thing Spain did was to negotiate and try to enter into a treaty with the Philippines with respect to prisoner exchange,” Escudero said, referring to the case of Francisco “Paco” Larrañaga in Cebu in the 1990s.
“If an OFW is convicted, let us say to suffer the penalty of 30-year incarceration in Saudi Arabia for example, and the family is poor, the next time they see each other will be 30 years after already because I doubt if the family can visit him every year and spend that much to travel,” he added.
“And they are not even sure if they can see the convicted relative whenever they do visit that place.”
