A LAWMAKER called on the administration to “act swiftly and provide necessary assistance” to overseas Filipino workers on death row in Malaysia after its parliament voted to abolish the mandatory death penalty rule. 

“I urge the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Migrant Workers to immediately provide all the needed legal assistance for overseas Filipinos on death row in Malaysia for a review of their sentences,” KABAYAN Party-list Rep. Ron P. Salo said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Reforms that remove mandatory death penalty for 11 serious crimes, including murder and terrorism, hurdled Malaysia’s parliamentary on Monday.  

Under the new law, those on death row have 90 days to seek a review of their sentences.  

Malaysian Deputy Law Minister Ramkarpal Singh, speaking before parliament on Monday, said that the mandatory death penalty “has not brought about the results it was intended to bring.” 

Mr. Salo called the ruling “a welcome development, especially for our countrymen on death row in Malaysia who may have a justifiably legal cause to receive a much lesser penalty.” 

Judges can still decide on whether to impose death penalty as a punishment for specific cases. 

“It gives us so much hope that many of their cases will be reconsidered and will be given lighter punishments. This will give our countrymen the chance to reform and lead better lives,” Mr. Salo said.  

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Paul Raymund P. Cortes said during a March 2 House committee meeting that 56 Filipinos remain on death row in Malaysia.   

Of these, 30 were charged for murder, 18 for drug smuggling/trafficking, while eight were punished for waging war against the Malaysian king during the 2013 assault on Lahad Datu in Sabah. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

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