Press Release
February 2, 2017

JV EJERCITO WANTS TO INSTITUTIONALIZE LEGAL ASSISTANCE FUND

Senator JV Ejercito is seeking to institutionalize and make available the Legal Assistance Fund for Overseas Filipino Workers from the time of arrest or charging until the trial proper, as well as during appeals.

Ejercito is pushing for this through his measure Senate Bill No. 157, which was tackled yesterday by the Senate Committee on Labor.

"If it is true that there are more than 3,000 cases against OFWs, then let's have a plan to resolve them and be prepared to provide legal assistance to the reported 9,000 OFWs in detention. Let's also start saving the lives of around 88 OFWs reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs who are now on death row overseas," he said during the hearing.

Ejercito said it is high time that the government actually do something about it.

"This Legal Assistance Fund will be for all those who have been brutally abused by their employers, physically and emotionally, those who have been raped and sexually assaulted, those who never got paid for their services and especially those who have been wrongly accused of crimes. This is for the victims of mysterious deaths who receive no justice at all," he added.

Ejercito said that for distressed OFWs, the government, through consular offices and embassies, should be their sanctuaries for help.

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