OFW meets kin before execution in China today

MANILA, Philippines - The overseas Filipino worker (OFW) sentenced to death in China on drug trafficking charges will be allowed to spend only an hour with his loved ones before he is executed today.

 

Raul Hernandez, spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said that the still unidentified OFW will meet his two siblings and two cousins for 45 minutes to an hour starting 8:30 a.m.

 

"After that would be the promulgation of the sentence by the Intermediate People's Court in Guilin. If the promulgation is affirmed, they would bring our kababayan to Liuzhou and the execution would be held there," Hernandez said in a radio interview.

 

The promulgation of the sentence started past 9 a.m.

 

Hernandez said the Filipino will be executed by lethal injection.

 

The DFA said yesterday that a Catholic priest will accompany the members of the Filipino convict’s family when they visit him before he is brought to the death chamber.

 

The convict will learn about the carrying out of the death penalty only on the day of his execution in China’s Guangxi province.

 

Hernandez said that the family of the OFW has asked the DFA to work for the repatriation of the Filipino's remains back to Manila after the execution.

 

"Last week, I was able to talk with the family of the [OFW] and [they asked] if we could repatriate the body to Manila," he said in Filipino.

 

The Filipino was convicted of drug trafficking. He was arrested last Sept. 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport while trying to smuggle 1.495 kilos of heroin.

 

The Philippines has made attempts to prevent the execution of the Filipino. President Benigno Aquino III ordered Vice President Jejomar Binay to personally hand over to Chinese officials his letter of appeal on the Filipino's execution.

 

As of yesterday, China still has no response on the letter.

 

Chinese embassy Deputy Chief of Political Section and spokesman Ethan Sun Yi yesterday said there was no response from the Chinese government regarding President Aquino’s letter to President Hu Jintao asking that the 35-year-old Filipino’s death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.

 

Sun reiterated that China conveyed last week to the Philippines that the verdict is final and executory.