House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan has urged the Philippine government to establish a prisoner transfer program to allow Filipinos incarcerated overseas to serve their sentences in the Philippines. He highlighted the need for collaboration among the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and Department of Justice (DOJ) to create a system modeled after the United States’ prisoner transfer framework.
“We need a program that will facilitate the transfer of Filipinos convicted of crimes abroad so that they can serve the remainder of their sentences here at home, closer to their families,” Libanan said in an Inquirer.net report. He stressed that being near loved ones would aid in the rehabilitation of convicted Filipinos.
The proposal came in the wake of the high-profile case of Mary Jane Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who returned to the Philippines in December 2024 after spending 14 years on death row in Indonesia. Veloso was convicted in 2010 for drug trafficking but maintained her innocence, claiming she was unaware that heroin was hidden in her luggage.
Veloso’s repatriation followed a decade of diplomacy and negotiations between the Philippine and Indonesian governments, as announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Her case underscores the challenges faced by the estimated 1,254 Filipinos currently serving sentences in foreign prisons, according to a DMW report.
Libanan also pointed to the successful repatriation of Rodelio Lanuza in 2012. Lanuza spent 11 years on death row in Saudi Arabia for killing a Saudi national in self-defense. His freedom was secured through the payment of blood money raised by his family and supporters.
The lawmaker emphasized that the Philippines could adopt the US model, where the Department of Justice oversees prisoner transfers, and the Department of State negotiates treaties.
“Bringing Filipino offenders closer to their loved ones will be more conducive to their rehabilitation,” Libanan concluded.
