Dubai: A senior diplomat has assured Filipinos in the UAE that legal assistance is available for them should they fall on the wrong side of the law even as he urged the community to continue being law-abiding residents in their host country.
Perfecto Yasay Jr, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary, met with the Filipino community on Monday night in a town-hall meeting at the Canadian University Dubai to “listen to their concerns” under the directives of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Yasay, who was on a short layover in Dubai from his trip to Rome, said his Dubai visit was also to prepare for the proposed visit of Duterte to the UAE.
“I came here also to prepare for the planned visit of the president, hopefully within the next month or so,” Yasay told the crowd.
“He had longed to be here to fulfil a promise knowing pretty well that a real and important reason why he is now president of the Republic of the Philippines is because of your support and your vote.”
During the talk, Yasay reiterated that the Duterte administration aims to prioritise the concerns of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and to make sure that they can conveniently avail of government services.
Yasay also said that the Philippine government is willing and ready to help Filipinos should they face legal problems in the country. A Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) of Php100 million (Dh7.36 million) was appropriated in 2016 to provide assistance to OFWs facing charges, litigation expenses, court fees, and bail bonds, based on Republic Act 10022.
“That LAF is to be used for our Filipino compatriots abroad, whether they are OFWs or not, who will need legal assistance because they cannot afford it, especially those who are being accused of crimes. Sometimes, on a case-to-case basis, we also help those who are suing their employers for the recovery of salaries owed to them,” Yasay said.
Based on LAF guidelines, those who are entitled to legal funds are Filipinos accused of murder or any case that has a sentence of life imprisonment or death. But exceptional circumstances are taken into consideration depending on approvals from the DFA Manila office.
In Abu Dhabi, for example, some 54 cases were assisted in 2016 through the LAF amounting to Dh1.1 million, said Vice-Consul Anna Guerra, head of the embassy’s Assistance-To-Nationals (ATN) section. The ATN also helped another 200 cases through the section’s funds.
“We automatically help Filipinos accused of murder and we also help exceptional cases where Filipinos’ rights are violated such as victims of rape, labour cases such as non-payment of salaries, accident cases like those victims who did not receive blood money and need to file civil compensation cases,” Guerra told Gulf News.
In Dubai, the ATN section disbursed $325,184 (Dh1.19 million) as legal assistance fund to 48 Filipinos involved in rape, murder, drug-related crimes, labour cases, theft, forgery, immorality and breach of trust cases, Vice-Consul Marianne Bringas, ATN head in Dubai, told Gulf News.
