50 Pinoy drug mules languishing in Brazil jails

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine embassy in Brazil is monitoring 50 reported cases of Filipinos detained for drug trafficking under its jurisdiction, even as other drug cases involving Filipinos in other South American countries are on the rise, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The DFA said another Filipina was allegedly arrested at the Guarulhos International Airport by Brazilian Federal Police last Aug. 19 for possessing five kilos of cocaine contained in 15 bags hidden in her luggage with false bottoms.

Citing a report from the Philippine embassy in Brazil, the DFA said the Filipina told investigators that she bought the bags in the middle of a Sao Paolo street and intended to sell it in the Philippines.

The Filipina said she was not aware that the bags contained prohibited substances.

She had the chance to inform her sister of her arrest.

“This arrest, as well as the most recent arrest of another Filipina last Oct. 17, indicates the continuing operations of international drug syndicates using Filipinas as drug mules in spite of the government’s aggressive information and law enforcement campaign,” said Philippine Ambassador to Brazil Eva Betita.

The embassy reported that from January to October this year, 15 Filipinos were arrested in Brazil for drug trafficking, 13 of them women. 

Drug mules rising

Meanwhile, the Philippine embassy in Chile reported that the number of Filipinos detained for drug trafficking in countries it covers is also on the rise.

Based on reports of the DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, 23 Filipinos were arrested in Peru in 2010, 21 of them women. 

There are now 43 Filipinos detained for drug-related offenses in the countries covered by the embassy, namely Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

“We warn our countrymen against carrying drugs when traveling overseas and especially not to accept packages they suspect contain drugs, and also to be wary of the modus operandi being used by drug-trafficking syndicates. If they are caught, they will face very dire circumstances,” DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said.

Conejos said that Filipino drug couriers, many of whom were enticed to go to a third country like Thailand, were promised lucrative jobs by syndicate members. 

While there, the Filipino drug mules were met by their contact and given packages where the illegal drugs were concealed.

The DFA has requested the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to continue its operations and redouble its efforts in the light of the increasing involvement of Filipinas as drug mules.

“The country is doing everything to arrest the drug menace, and with the cooperation of all, we hope that we can eradicate it once and for all. But ultimately, our people must take full responsibility for their actions by always being on guard against the inducements,” Conejos said.

The measures, he said, are being implemented in cooperation with the PDEA and other key government agencies.

The DFA earlier said 112 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are involved in active death penalty cases, most of which are drug-related cases in China.

As of Oct. 21, 2010, there are 76 Filipinos in China who have been convicted and sentenced to death for drug trafficking.

Of the 112 death penalty cases, 16 are OFWs charged for multiple murder/murder, murder with robbery, blasphemy and drug-related case.

“They have been convicted and sentenced to death. The cases were appealed to the High Court and pending review by the People’s Supreme Court in Beijing,” he said. “The DFA continues to exhaust all the legal remedies to provide assistance to our OFWs there.”

The DFA said the decision on the cases of two Filipinos sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling is final and should not be linked to the backlash against the Philippines for the death of eight Hong Kong nationals in a hostage taking in Manila last August.

Conejos said the decision on the two Filipinos was handed down long before the hostage crisis in Manila.

He said the five death penalty cases in China who were convicted for drug trafficking are the most critical. One of them was found in possession of 4,110 grams of heroine.

He stressed that the Philippines is continuing high-level intercession to save the Filipinos sentenced to death.

Under Chinese laws, trafficking of 50 grams or more of illegal drugs is punishable by 15 years imprisonment or death.

In Malaysia, 18 OFWs have been sentenced to death for crimes drug trafficking, robbery with homicide, rape with homicide, and murder.

One OFW in Indonesia was sentenced to death and another Filipino national in a death penalty case was convicted of murder.

According to Conejos, a drug mule is offered $3,000 to $4,000 for bringing drugs.

He said there are now 302 drug-related cases in Asia involving Filipinos, mostly female victims who were lured to act as drug mules by international syndicates.

A majority of the cases are in China (205), Hong Kong (26) and Malaysia (17), and involve more female victims – 221 cases – than males.

PDEA alarmed

Meanwhile, the PDEA yesterday issued a strong warning against Filipinos contemplating on getting into the illegal drugs trade as drug mules.

PDEA chief Dionisio Santiago said they have intensified their campaign against drug mules, which he said goes unabated and are perpetrated by international drug trafficking syndicates.

Santiago said the PDEA is working diligently with international counterparts and fellow stakeholders to come up with effective and efficient countermeasures to check the drug menace.

He raised grave concern over the increasing number of Filipinos convicted and sentenced to death for drug trafficking.                  

“Judiciary law on drug smuggling has stiffer penalties in other countries. In China, the trafficking of more than 50 grams of illegal drugs is subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of 15 years, a life sentence, or worse, the death penalty,” he said.

However, Santiago said there is an existing article saying that death penalty with reprieve, with a two-year probation, can be applied to foreign nationals. – WithJerry Botial