Philippines provides legal aid to 2 arrested Filipinos

The Philippine Government, through its Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and its Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), is providing legal assistance to two contractual workers in the UAE, who are among 35 individuals, ordered arrested over the weekend by UAE Attorney General Dr. Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, for uploading misleading content and videos over various social media platforms, amidst the ongoing USA-Israel-Iran War.

The official statement on the assistance is over the official Facebook Page of the Philippine Embassy-Abu Dhabi since 1 p.m. of Monday.

The two Filipinas belong to the second set of “25 individuals of various nationalities” caught violating UAE rules and regulations relative to the war that entered its 17th day on Monday.

An initial 10 were ordered arrested on March 14. According to the diplomatic mission statement, “legal assistance is being extended to the arrested individuals through the Embassy’s retained legal counsel.”

Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ferdinand Ver told Gulf Today that the legal assistance fund shall be derived from the DMW coffers since the two arrested are “OFWs” (overseas Filipino workers).

This reporter sought the clarification since from the Feb. 3, 2023 effectivity of the Dec. 30, 2021 signing of the law, creating the DMW, during the tenure of then President Rodrigo Duterte, all issues surrounding the protection and welfare of all OFWs worldwide, have been transferred from the DFA to the DMW and its agencies, such as the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Thus, the ongoing repatriation of documented OFWs and stranded Filipino tourists across the Middle East is being led by the DMW through its nine Migrant Workers Offices (MWOs) in the UAE (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar), Kuwait (Kuwait City), Bahrain (Manama), Jordan (Amman), Lebanon (Beirut), and Oman (Muscat).

Of the 2.1 million OFWs and their families in these countries, including Israel, Iraq and Iran, total number of returnees, were 1,656, as of March 15.

Of these, 341 from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain arrived in Metro Manila on March 15.

Meanwhile, the Marcos Administration, through the DFA, DMW and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, expressed thankfulness for the assistance extended by Singapore to the 24 OFWs able to return to the Philippines last week.

The 24, alongside other Southeast Asians from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Vietnam, and Australia joined the scheduled March 12 repatriation flight of 81 Singaporeans and their families from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

There were limited commercial flights that day and the Republic of Singapore Air Force A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft had vacant seats. Their repatriation was done in the spirit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations fraternity.

Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines Constance See was quoted by The Manila Times as saying that there were “vacant seats and close coordination” was done with the respective country missions: “Our flight complements those efforts. This is really ASEAN solidarity in action, neighbours helping neighbours in difficult moments.”

From the UAE, as of March 13, returnees were at 1,203, 750 of whom were tourists. From the March 13 Boeing 747-400 evening chartered flight that used the Fujairah International Airport; and were personally escorted by DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac, back to Metro Manila, were 354 from Dubai and the Northern Emirates and 88 from Abu Dhabi.

Ver, Cacdac and Consul General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates Ambrosio Brian Enciso III were grateful for the assistance extended by various Filipino organisations.

On the OFWs caught sharing misleading information and sensitive video clips online, the Philippine Embassy “is withholding specific information” regarding “their identities, location, and other case details in view of the ongoing investigation and at the request of their families.” “A request has been submitted to the relevant UAE authorities for a consular visit to the arrested nationals, subject to approval by the competent authorities.”

In the official statement, the Philippine Embassy once more reminded all Filipinos nationwide to “strictly adhere to local laws and regulations concerning the creation, posting, and sharing of photos, videos, and other online content, including AI-generated material, particularly in the context of the current regional situation.”