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PHL govt helping Pinoys facing drug charges in other countries
The Philippine government reassured the public over the weekend that it is assisting Filipinos facing drug charges in other countries. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said records show that the Philippine embassies and consulates concerned start defending the accused in the early stages of the case. “Anywhere a Filipino citizen is situated we will give assistance to them ... (The embassies will) start defending the Filipinos that are accused of any wrongdoing from the very start,” he said on government-run dzRB radio. Earlier, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said the execution last week of a Filipino drug courier in China should spur the Philippine government to save some 576 Filipinos facing drug charges in other parts of the world. The Filipino was executed last December 8 after China’s Supreme People’s Court affirmed his death sentence. The Filipino was caught with 1.495 kilos heroin in Guangxi province in 2008. Angara cited a report of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) indicating that the number of Filipinos facing drug charges abroad are:
- 76 Filipinos in Italy;
- 70 in Saudi Arabia;
- 44 in Brazil;
- 38 in Peru;
- 24 in Thailand;
- 20 in Hong Kong;
- 17 in Macau;
- 11 in Spain;
- 9 in India;
- 8 in France;
- 8 in Iran;
- 7 in Indonesia;
- 6 in Ecuador, and
- 5 in South Korea.
