Around 3,000 OFWs face cases abroad; 24 on death row

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December 23, 2025 | 4:52pm

MANILA, Philippines — Some 3,000 overseas Filipino workers are currently dealing with legal trouble in their host countries, including at least 24 facing death row, based on the latest data from the Department of Migrant Workers. 

Secretary Hans Cacdac shared this at a media briefing on Monday, December 22, where he also recounted the department's accomplishments and activities in 2025. 

The department is assisting thousands of OFWs' cases, which range from labor disputes to serious criminal charges, Cacdac said.

“We're handling around 3,000 'Aksyon Fund' cases,” Cacdac said, referring to the DMW's emergency fund for supporting OFWs in crises. 

The department has instructed its offices to tap more than one lawyer per location when needed to cope with the caseload, the DMW secretary added.  

"We are always on the lookout for more lawyers to help our OFWs," Cacdac said, adding that to date, the department has about 35 lawyers, 10 of which are in-house, while the rest are from law firms. 

Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest number of Filipino workers with pending cases, a result as well of the large OFW population there, Cacdac said.

The DMW secretary did not provide a breakdown of cases by country or list specific charges filed, but said the majority were labor-related disputes. 

He added there was also a "fair share" of criminal cases, where the OFW was either the complainant filing charges or the one being accused of a crime. 

For the number of Filipinos on death row, this number has dropped sharply over the years, based on DMW data, from 40 to 70 cases in earlier periods, to 49 last year, and 24 this year.

Most of the death row cases were transferred to the DMW from the DFA when the agency was created in 2021. 

Cacdac said two death row cases in Saudi Arabia were recently commuted, saving the Filipino workers involved from death row. He declined to give details on the individuals involved, citing privacy concerns.  

For OFWs kept behind bars, Cacdac said the DMW regularly conducts jail visitations to monitor their conditions and keeps their families informed of developments.  

Use of the DMW's Aksyon Fund climbed to 98% in 2025, up from previous years, as the department improved spending of its legal and welfare assistance budget for OFWs, Cacdac said. 

Utilization of the Aksyon Fund, according to the DMW, stood at 49% in 2023 and 59% in 2024. 

Earlier underspending was due to adjustment issues as the DMW transitioned into a full-fledged agency following its creation in 2021, Cacdac added.

OFWs in the Middle East, particularly household workers, face a range of long-standing issues, including wage theft, excessive work hours, physical and sexual abuse, and passport confiscation by employers. Nearly 5,000 maltreatment cases involving OFWs were reported in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 4,302 from the Middle East. Women account for about 60% of OFWs and are disproportionately vulnerable, with most abuse cases in Gulf countries involving female workers.

In June this year, Saudi Arabia abolished its kafala system, a decades-old sponsorship framework that tied migrant workers' residency and employment status to their employers. This setup has been seen as the source of most labor injustices toward OFWs in the region, as it gave employers near-total control over workers, especially those under inhumane conditions. But under the reform, workers can now change jobs without employer approval, leave the country without exit visas, and access labor courts to report abuse.

The Philippines remains heavily dependent on OFW remittances, which amounted to about $15 billion from January to May this year. Several Filipinos continue to seek opportunities outside the country due to a lack of job opportunities and low wages at home. 

According to the DMW, around 2.5 million OFWs were deployed from the Philippines to different host countries between January and November this year. This is up from the 2.2 million Filipino workers who left the country last year.