QUEZON CITY — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. thanked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after announcing on Tuesday, Oct. 15, that the Middle Eastern nation has pardoned 143 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) jailed for minor offenses.
In a statement, President Marcos said that he expressed the Philippines’ “heartfelt” gratitude to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in a phone call a day earlier.
“I extended to him my heartfelt thanks for this humanitarian aid in the wake of the recent typhoons and floods in the Philippines,” he added.
Moreover, the President emphasized that the UAE’s “generous” act of pardoning 143 Filipinos has brought relief to many families.
President Marcos was the first to break the news about the 143 pardoned OFWs. There were no details yet about the types of offenses the Filipino expatriates had committed.
In a later statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) indicated that the latest batch of pardoned OFWs had committed minor offenses, including drug abuse, theft, and immigration-related violations such as absconding and overstaying, and there were no death penalty cases.
Based on the Global Media Insight (GMI) September 2024 report, Filipinos represent 6.8 percent of the UAE’s more than 11 million total population, or approximately 700,000 Filipinos. (PIA DMD)