DFA has P100-M Fund for OFW Legal Aid
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has a P100-million fund for legal assistance for distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.
He was responding to the claim of Bayan Muna party-list that there is no money for legal aid to OFWs facing criminal charges or convicted of various offenses in their host countries, like Mary Jane Veloso who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
According to Bayan Muna, President Aquino had vetoed the Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) item in DFA’s 2015 budget.
But Abad maintained that “there is a P100-million LAF under the DFA. There are also additional funds in OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration).”
“As usual, they are carelessly wrong,” he said in text message.
He explained that the President made a “conditional veto” on the LAF item, not an “outright veto.” “This means that the DFA can use the fund provided that they have a funding source such as their collections or savings.”
Aside from the LAF, the DFA has a separate fund for assistance to distressed nationals. This is apparently the appropriation where money for transportation, food and other kinds of assistance for OFWs and other Filipinos abroad is taken.
The DFA generates income from the collection of fees for passport issuance, documents authentication and other consular services.
Bayan Muna made an issue out of the alleged lack of money for legal aid to distressed OFWs after Veloso’s family claimed that the DFA did not help them in saving Mary Jane. The DFA has denied the accusation.
Veloso’s family also refused to recognize Aquino’s role in saving Mary Jane from Indonesia’s death squad even after the Indonesian government publicly stated that Aquino’s last-minute appeals prompted it to abort her execution.
Bayan Muna has filed a bill asking the House of Representatives to appropriate P500 million as “supplemental” legal aid fund for OFWs.
Review efforts vs human trafficking
Meanwhile, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has filed a resolution urging the Senate to conduct a full review of the country’s efforts against human trafficking.
In Senate Resolution No. 1325, Marcos asked the appropriate committee to conduct a review of Republic Act 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act of 2012 and the performance of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). –With Christina Mendez