Senator Imee Marcos asked her colleagues to concur in the ratification of a treaty between the Philippines and Canada that will enable Filipino prisoners in that country to serve their sentence here at home.
“Sa gitna ng lahat ng pagkakasala at pagsubok, huwag natin kalimutan na may pagkakataon pa ang bawat nilalang na magbalik-loob at magkaroon ng bagong buhay,” Marcos said in her sponsorship speech of Senate Resolution No. 1146.
“Maraming kababayan natin ang nakakulong sa ibang bansa, malayo sa kanilang pamilya at mga mahal sa buhay. Hindi lamang ito pisikal na pagdurusa, pasakit din ito sa kanilang mga isip at damdamin,” she also said.
The “Treaty Between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of Canada on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and on Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentence” was signed on May 22, 2003, and ratified by the President on January 24, 2023.
It provides for the conditions and procedure by which a Filipino sentenced in Canada may be transferred to the Philippines to serve his/her sentence.
S/he may be transferred when his or her case would constitute a criminal offense according to the law of the receiving State or would constitute a criminal offence if committed on its territory.
Reintegration back to Philippine society will prove difficult to a Filipino who is deported to his home country after having served his sentence abroad with no support system, said Marcos.
“While we cannot prescribe how or for how long other countries should punish Filipinos who break their laws, we can at least forge agreements that will give our countrymen imprisoned abroad a better chance of rehabilitation and reintegration back to society, back home here in the Philippines,” she added.IMT
