January 7, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Up to 220 Filipinos jailed in the United Arab Emirates were pardoned by the UAE government last month, according to President Marcos.
He said the UAE granted pardon to the Filipinos on the occasion of its 53rd National Day on Dec. 2.
“We extend our gratitude to his highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whom I also had the honor to meet, for this compassionate gesture,” Marcos said in a video message yesterday.
He said the granting of pardon was proof of the robust relations between the two countries.
In a statement released by the Presidential Communications Office earlier in the day, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said the pardon came after Marcos met with the UAE president in Dubai in November.
“The UAE leadership has traditionally granted pardon to celebrate its national day,” Lazaro said. “The pardon for Filipinos was granted in view of the
friendship between the two countries.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi are currently processing the documentary and administrative requirements for the immediate return of the pardoned Filipinos to the country, Lazaro said.
She said the pardoned Filipinos were detained in the UAE for “various offenses.”
In June last year, 143 Filipinos detained in the UAE were also pardoned on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.
The DFA previously said the pardon was not for major crimes such as death penalty cases, “but for relatively minor offenses.”
Filipinos are the third largest expatriate group in the UAE after the Indians and Pakistanis, based on latest data from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Be the first to comment