SENATE majority leader Joel Villanueva yesterday urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to double its efforts in providing free legal assistance to Filipinos who have pending criminal cases abroad, noting that nobody has been acquitted.
Villanueva made the pitch as the Senate committee on migrant workers conducted a hearing on Senate Bill No. 1448 that calls for the expansion of the use of the free legal assistance funds, and Senate Bill No. 1175 that encourages new lawyer-scholars to provide free legal services to overseas Filipino workers.
Villanueva was moved by the data shown by DFA Usec for migrant workers’ affairs Eduardo Jose de Vega that of the 5,141 Filipinos with pending criminal cases abroad as of June last year, 1,278 have served their sentences and no one was acquitted.
He said the fact that no Filipino was acquitted is “unacceptable,” adding he wants to know the reasons so the Senate can craft measures to further help Filipinos with pending criminal cases abroad.
“These are facts, these are figures that we have on hand. We wanted to find out, ilan ‘yung na-acquit (how many were acquitted)? Kung walang na-acquit (If there were no acquittals), what the hell are we doing here? We don’t even evaluate the things that we do?” Villanueva said.
“So, the next question would be, why zero acquittal? (Is it due to) weak evidence gathering? We want to find out and that’s the reason why we are asking this question. Is there a problem in the mechanism? Did we lack legal representation from the start of the case or did we come in late because of several reasons? That’s what we wanted to find out because that is the only way we can improve our services,” he said.
De Vega replied the government is providing free legal assistance to Filipinos abroad.
This did not sit well with Villanueva who apparently got irked. He asked De Vega to submit the review of the agency’s post services so he can evaluate the actions to be (used as) basis in crafting measures as this is a “concerning” matter.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo, panel chairman, asked De Vega to refrain from further explaining and heed the request of Villanueva to furnish the committee with documents.
Tulfo also urged the DFA to hire top caliber lawyers who will represent Filipinos with pending criminal cases abroad.
He said the DFA should also ensure that offices abroad catering to migrant workers would operate on the expected eight working hours per day, or more, to cater to OFWs in need of assistance.
He said reports have reached him that DFA employees abroad only work “half (a) day” and would only entertain Pinoys at certain hours supposedly due to some “paper works.”
