DFA: 65 OFWs on death row

MANILA, Philippines — Sixty-five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are on death row for various offenses in other countries, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported yesterday.Of the number, 48 are males and the rest are females.

“All of the death row cases are being handled by lawyers hired by the DFA,” Nueva Ecija 3rd District Rep. Joseph Gilbert Violago, who sponsored the proposed budget for the DFA for 2023, said.

During the budget hearing, Violago said DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo, upon the instruction of President Marcos, had appealed for executive clemency for Mary Jane Veloso.

Veloso was sentenced to death for smuggling heroin in Indonesia in 2010.