Phl to make final appeal to save Pinoy in China

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Jejomar Binay is set to leave for China to personally hand over the letter appeal of President Aquino to Chinese President Hu Jintao requesting commutation of death sentence meted on another Filipino drug mule who faces execution on Dec. 8.

Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is now making the necessary arrangements for Binay’s trip to China “at the earliest time possible.”

The Vice President was saddened by reports that the Filipino, who was convicted for carrying 1.495 kilos of heroin, was scheduled for execution next week.

“He (Binay) has been instructed by the President to appeal the ruling personally. The DFA is making arrangements with Beijing,” Salgado said.

A Chinese court has upheld the drug trafficking conviction of the Filipino despite appeals for clemency from President Aquino.

The 35-year-old man was arrested on Sept. 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport in China while trying to smuggle the illegal drugs into Guangxi province from Malaysia, the DFA said yesterday.

His death sentence was confirmed by a Chinese court in late November.

Smuggling more than 50 grams of heroin or other drugs is punishable by death in China.

The Philippine government provided all possible help to the condemned man and made “sustained and exhaustive representations with the Chinese government at all levels,” including an appeal from Aquino to his Chinese counterpart to try to have the death sentence commuted to life in prison, officials said.

The DFA expressed “its sadness at this turn of events” and said the convicted man’s family has been told of the Chinese court’s decision. Arrangements were being made for family members to immediately leave for China to meet with the convicted man.

Show mercy

President Aquino has asked China to show mercy to the convicted Filipino facing execution on drug charges.

Aquino made the appeal in a letter delivered by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao, said DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez.

Del Rosario “met with the Chinese ambassador to deliver the appeal of our government that he (the convict) be given a less severe sentence,” Hernandez said.

The foreign department stressed it provided “all necessary and possible assistance” to him during his detention and trial and was still seeking to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

Malacañang yesterday said the government can do nothing more to stay the execution of the convicted Filipino because the government already did all it could to save him.

“We have exhausted all legal efforts. We have exhausted all efforts and the sentence would be carried out on Dec. 8,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

“We recognize the decision of the judicial authorities in China. It was made based on the evidence that the Filipino national was carrying heroin and, therefore, based on their law, it was subject to the death penalty,” he explained.

“Again, it was done in compliance with their legal processes, we respect that. And I believe that in the same manner that the three Filipinos who were previously executed, this should not cause a hiccup in Filipino-Chinese relations,” he added.

The High People’s Court of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region informed the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou on Nov. 28 that the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing affirmed the lower court’s conviction and sentence of the Filipino.

The DFA said the convicted drug trafficker was represented by legal counsel at all levels of proceedings before the Intermediate People’s Court and the High People’s Court.

Officials from the Philippine Consulate in Guangzhou made continuous representations with the High People’s Court of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Foreign Affairs Office of Guangxi, and with the Public Security Bureau to convey concerns regarding the Filipino national.

Former Philippine ambassador to China Francisco Benedicto also made representations with a top official of the Supreme People’s Court to convey the Philippine government’s appeal to commute the death sentence of the Filipino national to life imprisonment.

According to the DFA, this is the last death penalty conviction, without reprieve, which concerns drug trafficking in China’s highest court. Originally, there were six death penalty convictions without reprieves. Three of these convictions were eventually affirmed by China’s highest court and execution was carried out on three Filipinos – Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain – in March.

The penalties of the two other Filipino convicts were lowered by the high court from death sentence without reprieve to death penalty with two-year reprieve.

“The Philippines respects Chinese law and the verdict of the Supreme People’s Court on the case,” the DFA said, noting that the Philippine government itself has a strong anti-illegal drug policy, and is closely cooperating with law enforcement agencies in China and in other countries on efforts against drug trafficking. – With Delon Porcalla, Pia Lee-Brago, AP