The arrival area of the Dubai International Airport on May 21, 2024. Benise Balaoing, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has thanked the United Arab Emirates for issuing a pardon for 115 convicted Filipinos to mark this year’s Eid Al-Adha, saying that the gesture is a testament to the two countries’ “special partnership.”

The president did not mention what crimes these Filipino convicts committed but noted that Emirati Ambassador to the Philippines Mohamed Obaid Alqataam Alzaabi personally relayed the good news.

“This gesture is a reflection of our countries’ special partnership, as embodied in the nearly one million Filipinos who have made the Emirates their home and in the warm personal friendship and mutual respect between myself as the leader of the Emiratis,” Marcos Jr. said in a statement posted on Saturday.

UAE grants royal clemency to 115 Filipino convicts

"[S]uch acts of kindness pave the way for continued cooperation and understanding in the years to come,” the President said.

“On behalf of the Philippine government, we extend our sincerest thanks to President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for this compassionate act,” he added.

The Philippine Embassy in the UAE and the Consulate General in Dubai on Saturday called the grant of royal clemency a “benevolent act, which further strengthens the longstanding bonds of friendship and cooperation” between the two countries.

Last year, 143 Filipinos received a pardon for their crimes in the UAE in time for Eid Al-Adha, while 220 others were given the same reprieve to mark the Middle Eastern country’s national day.

Of the 2.16 million registered overseas Filipino workers in 2023, 13.6 percent are based in the UAE, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.