Save convicted OFW in Kuwait, Arroyo urged

MANILA, Philippines - A migrants’ group leader reminded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday of her promise to intervene on the cases of 26 Filipino workers on death row in various jails overseas, including May Vecina whose appeal is set for decision in Kuwait on April 1. John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, said President Arroyo should not wait until the last minute to use diplomacy in saving the life of Filipinos languishing in foreign jails. May Vecina, a 29-year-old domestic helper from Matalam North Cotabato, was sentenced to die by hanging in Kuwait last July for the death of a six-year-old son of her employers in January 2007. Her appeal will be decided on April 1 by Kuwait’s Cassation Court. Late last year, Mrs. Arroyo managed to convince the Kuwait Emir to commute the death sentence for Filipino domestic worker Marilou Ranario to life imprisonment. She was convicted for the death of her employer. Monterona said Migrante would not want to see another Flor Contemplacion and Reynaldo Cortez in the coming days. Contemplacion was a domestic helper from Laguna who was hanged to death in Singapore in 1995 for the death of fellow Filipina maid, Delia Maga and Nicholas Huang, the three-year-old Singaporean son of her employer on May 4, 1991. Reynaldo Cortez, a 41-year-old car body technician from Guagua, Pampanga, was also hanged in Saudi Arabia for the death of a Pakistani taxi driver on June 13, 2007. Monterona said Migrante will commemorate the 13th death anniversary of Contemplacion on March 17 with a fitting call on the Arroyo government to be resolute in assisting distressed Filipinos overseas who were forced to leave their families behind in the hope of giving them a bright future. “As we commemorate the 13th death anniversary of Flor Contemplacion on March 17, Migrante, OFWs and their families will keep an eye and will be on guard at the cases of OFWs whose death sentences were already confirmed by the host government’s highest court or tribunal and we vow to continue and will not stop urging the Arroyo administration to act resolutely on their behalf to avoid being hanged and be saved," Monterona said. Meantime, Monterona called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to check the report that a 27-year-old Filipino maid hanged herself to death at her employer’s home in Kuwait recently. “Our chapter, Migrante-Kuwait, is looking into this incident to get valuable information and every angle should be investigated as her death could be considered a mysterious one. Resolute action from our Embassy in Kuwait is needed to avoid cover-ups; foul play is not far remote to a case like this based on previous cases Migrante have been handled," Monterona said. - GMANews.TV