Taiwan SC puts fate of OFW Alcaraz on hold

Taiwan’s Supreme Court has put the fate of overseas Filipino worker Cecilia Alcaraz on hold after it canceled the commutation of her death sentence and called for new proceedings, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said Friday. MECO, Manila’s de facto embassy in Taiwan, said that the SC remanded the case to the Appellate Court for fresh proceedings after both the family of the OFW and the Prosecutor’s Office sought to overturn the appellate court’s decision. Alcaraz – alias Nemencia Armia – was accused of robbing and killing her employer, language school jobs broker Jum Mei Yung, on September 12, 2007. She was arrested not long after and sentenced to death through firing squad on Sept. 30, 2008 by the Kaoshiung District Court Lawyers hired by the Philippine government appealed the sentence with the Appellate Court, which then reduced the death penalty to life imprisonment last May. Both the Prosecutor’s Office and Alcaraz’s lawyer Jiao Wen Chern, however, elevated the case to the Supreme Court for opposing reasons: the prosecutor wanted the death penalty restored, while Alcaraz’s lawyer wanted her acquitted. “The Taiwan SC noted that the judgment was clearly inconsistent and contradictory, giving sufficient reason to remand the case to the Appellate Court," said MECO resident representative Antonio Basilio. Basilio assured Alcaraz’s family that MECO will “continue supporting" her and provide all legal assistance. He said her lawyers are fully prepared to press anew her claim that she had been wrongly accused and convicted. “MECO officials have gone to the Kaohsiung detention facility to visit Cecile and go over the English translation of the SC decision with her," he said in a statement. Alcaraz is a single parent with four children who left her job as merchandiser for Robinson's Department Store to try her luck in Taiwan as an English tutor in 2005. Many more abroad But Alcaraz is not alone in her plight as many more OFWs remain on death row. As of July, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the number of OFWs on death row stands at 57. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. earlier said that most of the 57 remaining cases involve offenses such as rape, drug smuggling, and homicide in China, Malaysia, Kuwait, Brunei, United States and Saudi Arabia. Of the total, 48 are facing death for drug-related charges, mostly in Chinese jails. DFA records showed that 87 Filipinos have been placed on death row since January 2006 but it could not provide any figures on the number of Filipinos executed abroad. Migrante International, on other hand, said its tally under the Arroyo administration was six, the latest of whom was Jenifer Bidoya a.k.a. Venancio Ladion, a native of Zamboanga Del Norte province, who was executed in Jeddah last October for killing a Saudi man. The DFA could also not give a specific number of Filipinos languishing in jails abroad, but data previously released by Migrante placed the total at almost 5,000 Filipinos all over the world, particularly in several Middle Eastern countries. Both DFA and Migrante, however, reported that most of the cases are minor ones. These include alcohol-related offenses, gambling and illicit affairs, which are considered crimes in most Mideastern countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia, home to some 1.2 million Filipinos. - GMANews.TV