The Kuwait Amirs promise to commute Marilou’s death sentence is a victory for her family and all those who persevered in the international campaign to save her life by Migrante International and the Save Marilou Ranario Movement.
We commit to forwarding the campaign for Marilou until she and other OFWs on death row, are released and repatriated to the Philippines. Otherwise, the Arroyo administration fails them and their families anew.
Arroyo was compelled to intervene in Marilou’s case because of the people’s collective outcry over her plight and outrage over the many human rights violations committed against countless migrant workers daily.
Marilous case highlights the intense abuses and conditions migrant workers are subject to. It illustrates the grave social costs of the countrys labor export policy and it magnifies the criminal neglect of the Arroyo administration against many other migrant workers.
It also raises the increasing need for:
* genuinely pro-migrant bilateral agreements between the Philippines and host countries regarding the rights and welfare of our kababayans;
* comprehensive measures to address the intense exploitation and maltreatment of migrant workers, especially domestic workers, that underline many cases like Marilous; and
* the development of long-term viable livelihood in the Philippines instead of the increasing reliance on the export of people in exchange for dollar remittances to prop up the economy.
According to Department of Foreign Affairs figures, there are at least 26 other OFWs still on death row and around 5,000 imprisoned around the world. Among them is May Vecina, the 28 year old domestic worker from North Cotabato who reportedly killed her ward and wounded two others. Her case is now before Kuwaits Court of Cassation. #
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