Press Release
November 28, 2007

Villar supports government appeal for Ranario's pardon

Senate President Manny Villar today said he is throwing his full support to the government's bid to save an overseas Filipino worker from hanging in Kuwait.

Villar said he laud government's move to appeal for clemency to the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Sabah after the Cassation Court upheld the death sentence of Marilou Ranario. "Sa ibinabang hatol na bitay kay Marilou, hindi dapat panghinaan ng loob ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas upang mailigtas pa ang ating kababayan na nasa bingit ng kamatayan. Habang nabubuhay si Marilou, naniniwala ako na hindi dapat magwakas ang tulong ng gobyerno," he said.

Ranario was a teacher in Surigao del Norte before she went to Kuwait to work as a domestic helper. She was found guilty of stabbing her employer in 2005. Upon learning that Kuwait's Supreme Court upheld the ruling, Villar urged government to continue to exert the legal options that remain, including an appeal for clemency.

He also said that "we must respect the ruling of the Cassation Court which was decided under existing laws of Kuwait."

"Marilou puts a face to the plight of countless other Filipinos who leave the country for better opportunities abroad. Many of our kababayan chose to swallow the bitter pill of separation from their loved ones in order to ensure a better future for the family," Villar said.

The Nacionalista Party president noted that many OFWs are degree holders and working as professionals, who chose to perform more difficult jobs abroad such as those in domestic servitude.

"May this unfortunate incident involving a Filipino worker in a foreign land not divide us as a nation but rather unite us in praying for the release and eventual repatriation of Marilou as we also extend our sympathies to her family during this trying time," Villar said.

"Marilou's fate should serve as a lesson to all of us in government as we revisit and reformulate legislation that will provide better protection for our modern heroes, the Filipinos working abroad," he added.

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