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By Jefferson Antiporda, Reporter
A huge number of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
are facing criminal cases in the Middle East due to alleged illicit
relationships with other OFWs or aliens.
Majority of cases being faced by our countrymen
working in the Middle East have something to do with love, according
to Cresente Relascion, executive director for Migrant Workers Affair
Office of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Relascion said of the more than 8 million OFW
scattered around the world, at least 1.5 million Filipinos are
working in countries in the Middle East, 4 million in the United
States and the rest are in Europe and Asia Pacific.
“We have the most number of OFWs that are in
trouble with the law in the Middle East, but most of them committed
only minor crimes or violations of traditions in the said region,”
explained Relascion during the weekly Kapihan ng Bayan Forum
sponsored by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Filipinos are being jailed because of illicit
love affairs or cohabitation of unmarried couples that Relascion
said is illegal in many countries in the Middle East.
Middle Eastern countries are very strict on
relationships between unmarried individuals.
The official, however, doesn’t have the exact
figures of the jailed OFWs, but he confirmed that love cases are
common among Filipinos.
Besides love cases, Filipino are also being
jailed for gambling and liquor. He assured that the government is
providing legal assistance for their release.
Those who committed violations are being
deported back to the Philippines.
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