LETTER TO THE EDITOR

15 July 2000

Reference:

Leo Legaspi
Chairperson

DFA's Domingo, Mangibin and Estrada government are lying on the harrowing plight of OFWs

Undersecretary Benjamin Domingo and Mr. Bayani Mangibin, head of the Department of Foreign Affairs Consular Assistance Division (CAD) are using double talk and wild claims in taking credit for cases involving overseas Filipino workers who have been, or are presently in death row abroad. This is also reflective of the Estrada regime's gross ineptitude to their so-called "new economic heroes."

We are particularly enraged at the lies Usec. Domingo and Atty. Mangibin are peddling to well-meaning media practitioners and the general public regarding the cases of Violeta Miranda and Joselito Alejo.

MIGRANTE International did not err in reporting that Miranda had already been beheaded. We said that SHE WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH BY BEHEADING FOR POSSESSION OF 147 GRAMS OF SHABU ON JULY 27, 1998. The DFA denied this and was the entity that sowed confusion and panic with false promises and pathetic response to the pleas of the Miranda family for assistance and concrete, decisive action.

In fact, the Philippine embassy in Riyadh failed to provide assistance to Violeta Miranda during her harrowing ordeal. It was only on Sept. 23, 1998, two months and 14 days after Violeta was arrested, when a representative of the Philippine embassy visited her. She has since been repatriated no thanks to the DFA. Credit goes to the Miranda family and the people who launched and supported the campaign to save her from sure death and immediately be repatriated.

Domingo and Mangibin are adding more falsehoods to the dossier of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Estrada regime in the case of Joselito Alejo who has been detained in Malaz Jail, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia since August 10, 1997 for a crime he did not commit.

Contrary to what Mangibin says, the Saudi Arabian justice system treats arrested people as "guilty entities unless otherwise proven".  Even without hearings and a sentence, those with capital offences are placed on death row.

The Estrada government did not know that Alejo and other Pinoy OFWs were imprisoned in Riyadh until they themselves wrote to the DFA (March 11, 2000) and President Joseph Estrada (July 1, 1998) to seek help.

The Embassy in Riyadh has not visited our dozens of kababayan in the Malaz jail.  Mangibin and the DFA have not done anything yet. They are content with (1) using duplicity in addressing the queries of the Alejo family and MIGRANTE International, and (2) avoiding meetings and requests for information by giving convenient excuses like leaving messages with their staff that they are "on sick leave" or are "out for important meetings."

This is the general character of the Estrada government to the predicament of overseas Filipinos.

What the Alejo family and MIGRANTE International want are concrete actions, such as the immediate release and repatriation of Joselito and all other unjustly imprisoned OFWs in Saudi Arabia.  If Domingo, Mangibin and other responsible people at the Embassy and the DFA are sick, we advise that they take medical leaves. But if they and the Estrada regime continue to be inveterate liars, we strongly suggest that they resign. #

MIGRANTE International

56-C Masikap Street

Bgy. Pinyahan, Teachers' Village

Quezon City, PHILIPPINES

Phone: 435-9152

Tele/Fax: 435-6929

E-mail: migranteintl@pacific.net.ph