{"id":204146,"date":"2019-02-26T21:12:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T02:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=204146"},"modified":"2019-02-26T21:12:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T02:12:50","slug":"palace-assures-legal-aid-for-distressed-filipinos-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/26\/palace-assures-legal-aid-for-distressed-filipinos-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace assures legal aid for distressed Filipinos abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark to clarify President Rodrigo R. Duterte\u2019s warning to Filipino workers against committing drug-related crimes abroad since he would not be able to help them. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday assured distressed Filipino workers abroad that the government will provide them with legal assistance should they get involved in serious crimes such as drug-related cases.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark to clarify President Rodrigo R. Duterte\u2019s warning to Filipino workers against committing drug-related crimes abroad since he would not be able to help them.<\/p>\n

Panelo said that while legal assistance will still be provided, the President will not do so much as to personally ask a country\u2019s government for pardon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Filipinos will be engaged in drug-trafficking, he (Duterte) will not lift a hand in the sense that he would be traveling there and asking the President for a pardon,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can do is just provide lawyers for them. When you provide lawyers, you\u2019re also helping,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Panelo emphasized that Duterte, a lawyer himself, is strict in enforcing the country\u2019s laws and would want Filipino workers to follow laws in countries they work in as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he means by that is he cannot be violating the laws of other countries just like his position that you cannot violate our laws,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be against our own policy that we are very strict on the enforcement of drug laws pagkatapos\u00a0sa ibang lugar hindi. Para maging\u00a0<\/em>consistent\u00a0tayo<\/em>\u00a0(and then in other countries, we\u2019re not. We have to be consistent),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Duterte, during the first National Assembly of the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas in Pasay City, warned Filipinos against committing drug-related crimes abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya kayong mga Pilipino sa labas, wag ninyong gawin \u2018yan kasi papatayin din kayo doon<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s why you, Filipinos abroad, don\u2019t do that because you\u2019ll also be killed there). Do not be committing crimes in other countries,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot help you and I won\u2019t help you. \u2018Yan tandaan ninyo (Remember that),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is the main agency responsible for protecting the rights and interests of all distressed Filipinos including assistance in the provision of legal advice, assistance in facilitating repatriation, assistance in human trafficking cases, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday assured distressed Filipino workers abroad that the government will provide them with legal assistance should they …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":187138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}