'This should serve as a lesson'

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales yesterday said the execution of the convicted Filipino drug mule in China should remind Filipinos to follow the laws of the country they travel to.

“Filipinos should bear in mind that when they travel to other countries, they should observe the different cultures and beliefs… Filipinos should learn to follow the laws,” he said.

The execution of the Filipino worker pushed through despite the repeated appeals made by the Philippine government through legal and diplomatic channels.

Malacañang condoled with the family of the executed Filipino, but said the government had done its best to try to save his life.

 “We are extending our sincerest condolences to them. No one would like this situation so grave to happen and not on your own soil,” said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.    

In a press briefing, he said the government had provided legal assistance to the worker from the time he was arrested until he was convicted.

He said the government has repeatedly been telling Filipinos who work overseas not to get involved in the illegal drug trade.        

“The Bureau of Immigration has taken steps to ensure that those who are leaving as overseas contract workers are certified to be leaving as such and not just as tourists, and also some other measures are being taken. Publicly, we have made several announcements and pleas to the public not to allow themselves to be used as drug mules,” Lacierda said.      

Malacañang has instructed the Office of the Vice President to determine the kind of assistance to be provided to the family of the executed Filipino.

Lacierda said that despite China’s rejection of the country’s request to spare the life of the Filipino drug carrier, as well the three others executed last March, the Philippine government will still plead for the lives of Filipinos placed on death row.

 “Our position as Filipinos (is) that we will not cease in helping and asking as a humanitarian gesture to governments which will seek to impose the death penalty on our compatriots,” he said.     Lacierda said Chinese President Hu Jintao did not reply to the country’s last minute appeal. 

“So we take that as a decision from them that the sentence is final and which was actually carried out,” he said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was tasked by President Aquino to seek a reprieve of the execution, said the family of the executed convict will return to the Philippine consulate in China and will proceed to the Chinese court to get the release papers for his remains.

Arrangements have been done with a funeral parlor to prepare the remains.                

Binay said the government shouldered the expenses of the family’s travel to China but they would still determine the kind of assistance to be provided to them because their executed kin, who went to China as a tourist, was not registered with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).      

Binay said his family had kept their hopes up until the other day but cried when they saw the priest and the consul.

At 7 a.m. yesterday, the Filipino priest officiated a Mass prior to the execution.    

The family then proceeded to the jail at 8 a.m. to see him for 50 minutes.

The sentence was read in court in the presence of the convict and his family.

“He was very calm. He was given last rites and last communion while his family cried,” Binay said.

At 10:15 a.m., the convict was brought to Liuzhou City to be executed. – With Aurea Calica, Jose Rodel Clapano