¡¡MANILA, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Tuesday said that there are currently 2,856 Filipino workers in foreign jails, 19 of whom are facing death penalty.

    According to the DFA's data, 13 Filipino workers were imposed with capital punishment in Saudi Arabia, five in Malaysia and one in the United States.

    Foreign Undersecretary and head of office of Migrant Workers Affairs Jose Brillantes said that the government is making necessary representations with the Saudi government to commute thesentence of the two Filipinos in death row, who were convicted by final judgment and may be headed in Saudi Arabia.

    "We are doing everything we can to save the lives of these Filipinos. The same is being done to other Filipinos facing death penalty," Brillantes told a press briefing.

    While the case is in progress, the embassy usually adopts and recommends actions for amicable settlement, he explained.

    The government has extended every possible assistance within its resources, to the families and exhaust all remedies, legal andconsular, during the presidency of the case regardless of how longthe case lasts, he added.

    House Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri Monday raised an alarm over 2,856 Filipinos languishing in jails in 56 countries, whom hedescribed as "POFW" or prisoner-overseas Filipino workers.

    According to a 369-page report from the DFA, at least 673 POFWsare women and of those imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, 50 are minors, he said.

    "There are more POFWs than officially listed because some of our foreign service posts were not able to submit their reports for a variety of reasons," he said. "To repatriate them all, the country would need 20 Boeing 737 planes."

    "Even in the tiny Maldives in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there was a Filipino in prison," Zubiri added. Enditem