Susan Ople calls on government to help OFWs in death row

The thing I like the most about Susan "Toots" Ople is this---despite her hectic schedule as an official Senatorial candidate of the Nacionalista Party, she does not forget her basic advocacy--helping distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). She still heads the Blas F. Ople Labor Policy Center, a place dedicated to the advancement of Filipino workers' rights.

When informed that the Saudi government is giving away pardons for foreign detainees, Ople immediately acted and called upon the Philippine government, especially the Department of Foreign Affairs, to activate its legal teams and ask that the Saudi government consider giving pardons to "overstaying" Filipino detainees and those on "death row". One OFW, Don Lanuza, is still languishing in the Saudi jail and his family is suffering from tremendous financial woes. Ople is helping him, along with hundreds of other Filipinos jailed for both petty and serious crimes.

There is another detainee, much like the same experienced by another OFW, whose sentence was just for one year but has been staying in jail for more than two years now.

In one of my conversations with Toots Ople, one of the problems she sees is the lack of adequate personnel of the DFA. In various consulates and embassies we have abroad, there is but 1 to 1,000 OFWs ratio. " We need to bolster the ranks of our professional foreign affairs personnel posted abroad, otherwise, cases involving Filipinos will rot and will not be attended to", says Ople.

Ople is trying her darnest best to help our embassies and consulates but the Center has limited resources. People, like me, who knows the real situation abroad (I'm an ex-OFW), supports Ople because we know that she will definitely help a lot in crafting laws to benefit OFWs, local workers and their families.

By the way, tomorrow, I'll be launching online "OT sa Pagbabago, OT sa Manggagawang Pilipino", an online effort to help Ople reach her dream of continuing the legacy left by her father, former Senator Blas F. Ople. "OT" means "Overtime Tayo". Or, it also means "Ople Tayo". :-)