Execution of 3 Filipinos on China death row set March 30

Chinese mobile execution unit
training for lethal injection

The 3 Filipino drugs mules on death row in China will be executed by lethal injection next Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Despite winning a rare reprieve following a high-level Philippine lobby, the death sentences on Ramon Credo, 42, Elizabeth Batain, 38, and Sally Villanueva, 32, will be carried out, the DFA said Wednesday.

"On the same day" Credo and Villanueva will be executed in Xiamen while the death penalty on Batain will be carried out in Shenzhen, said DFA spokesman J. Eduardo Malaya at a news conference.

The three, who were convicted of heroin smuggling in 2008, were due to have been put to death last February 20 and 21 but was put on hold after Vice President Jejomar Binay went to Beijing on February 18 to seek mercy.

Philippine authorities had gone to great lengths in a bid to save the Filipinos and made repeated appeals for their sentences to be commuted to life in jail.

But the Chinese embassy in Manila last week dashed hopes for clemency, saying, “The verdict is a final verdict.”

The DFA said Manila will respect the final ruling of China’s high tribunal.

"The government respects the Chinese law and the finality of the verdict of the Chinese People's Court," Malaya told reporters.

President Benigno Aquino last week acknowledged that from the start, the government was told that the stay of execution of the 3 Filipinos was temporary, and “we have to conform to their laws."

’All possible assistance'

The DFA said it provided “all possible legal and consular assistance” to the 3 Filipinos.

“The government ensured that their legal rights were respected and observed, and their welfare protected from the time of their arrests and throughout the judicial process, and even up to this very day,” it said.

The government had insisted that the 3 were from poor families and were duped into becoming drug mules by crime gangs.

The 3 are among 227 Filipinos jailed for drugs offenses in China. Of the total, 72 have received the death penalty with possible commutation, 38 meted life imprisonment, 78 sentenced to 15 years in prison and 35 currently on trial. Only 6 cases have reached the Supreme Court — 2 sentences overturned, 3 affirmed and 1 still being reviewed.

The DFA reiterated its warning for Filipinos “not to allow themselves to be victimized by international drug syndicates."

“We wish to stress that vigilance is the first major step in combating the modus operandi of international drug traffickers,” it said. “We urge all our citizens to be on alert at all times in order not to be victimized by drug syndicates."

Doomed loved ones

The DFA said the families of the Filipinos had been informed of the impending executions and will leave for China over the weekend to see their doomed loved ones for the last time.

Credo, 42, a father of 5 children, was arrested on December 28, 2008, at Gaoji International Airport in Xiamen after getting off a China Southern Airlines flight from Manila. A total of 4,113 grams of heroin was found in his luggage and he was formally charged with drug smuggling on January 21, 2009.

Credo is being held at Xiamen No. 1 Detention House, as is Villanueva, 32.

Villanueva, a mother of 2, was apprehended on December 24, 2008, also at Gaoji International Airport, upon arrival on China Southern Airlines flight from Manila. She was found with 4,410 grams of heroin in her suitcase. Villanueva was formally charged with drug smuggling on January 23, 2009.

Batain, 38, was arrested on May 25, 2008, at the Shenzhen airport after disembarking from an Asiana Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur. A total of 6,800 grams of heroin was found “sealed inside two reams of bond paper inside her luggage.” She was charged with drug trafficking on June 30, 2009. She is being held at Shenzhen No. 3 Detention House.

Smuggling more than 50 grams of heroin or other drugs is punishable by death in China. The Philippines has no death penalty.

Jayson Ordinario, a younger brother of one of the two women, said that his sister was hired as a cellphone dealer in Xiamen and was tricked into carrying a bag that had a secret compartment loaded with heroin allegedly by her job recruiter.

Last-ditch effort

Aquino had earlier written to Chinese President Hun Jintao appealing for clemency.

In another move seeking to spare Filipinos on death row in China, Aquino did not send a representative to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December honoring a jailed Chinese dissident. Manila also deported to Beijing last month 14 Taiwanese facing fraud charges in China despite protests from Taipei.

The Chinese ambassador said the criminal cases should not harm ties between Manila and Beijing.

"I don't want our wonderful relations to be kidnapped by these drug criminals," Liu said.

Source: Philippine Inquirer, March 23, 2011

Statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs, 23 March 2011

The Fujian People's Court and Guangdong High People's Court have informed the Philippine Consulates General in Xiamen and Guangzhou on the date of the carrying out of the death penalty on 3 Filipino nationals, namely Mr. Ramon Credo, Miss Elizabeth Batain and Miss Sally Villanueva.

The death penalty will be carried out on March 30 on Mr. Credo and Ms. Villanueva in Xiamen and on Ms. Batain in Shenzhen.

These are the Filipinos whose sentences were originally scheduled on February 20 and 21, but were stayed as a result of the humanitarian visit to Beijing of Vice President Jejomar Binay on February 18.

It may be recalled that during the visit of the Vice President, the Philippines conveyed that it "respects Chinese law and the (final) verdict of the Supreme People's Court" on these cases.

As the public is well aware, the Philippine Government provided the three Filipinos all possible legal and consular assistance. The Government ensured that their legal rights were respected and observed, and their welfare protected from the time of their arrests and throughout the judicial process, and even up to this very day.

Their families have been informed of the carrying out of the sentences, and arrangements are being made for them to depart for China during the weekend, in order to visit and see their loved ones.

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.

We appeal to all Filipinos, especially OFWs, not to allow themselves to be victimized by international drug syndicates and to be extremely cautious when dealing with strangers in airports and other areas of transit. We wish to stress that vigilance is the first major step in combating the modus operandi of international drug traffickers. We urge all our citizens to be on alert at all times in order not to be victimized by drug syndicates.

We hope that the members of the media will help the Government in its campaign to fight drug trafficking.

Source: Department of Foreign Affairs, March 23, 2011
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