The execution of a nameless Pinoy, the execution of all!

Execution in China

Leo Echegaray was executed on February 5, 1999. His daughter Baby is now a young lady. His wife, whom he married in prison died some years after his execution. With the abolition of the Death Penalty in our country, we should be focusing on the deeper causes of crime rather than on the punishment of convicted prisoners. Our jails are still exploding from the ever growing population of offenders, which includes those suspected and accused of heinous crimes like the Maguindanao Massacre. If we still had the death penalty in our country, what could have happen to those who committed plunder like Erap? Or CGMA today? What could happen to those responsible for the Maguindanao Massacre?

Punishment is easy but finding the roots of crime and stamping these out is hard. With this recent news of another Filipino facing execution in China, more than just making appeals for a stay of execution or commutation of sentence, the government should now vigorously investigate the very reason (causes) why Filipinos become drug mules. In this regard, I find the comment of presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda rather facetious: “We recognize the decision of the judicial authorities in China. It was made based on the evidence that the Filipino was carrying 1.5 kg of heroin, and therefore, based on their law, it was subject to death penalty,” Lacierda said. Lacierda said he did not believe ties between the two countries would be affected as “this is not the first time an execution happened, we experienced it before.”

The statement from Lacierda leans more on preserving good relations between the country and China. Concern for the unnamed Filipino awaiting execution does not really come across. While we have to exhaust all means to save one Filipino life on December 8, 2011, shouldn’t the government and the people also get together and address the bigger and deeper issue that cannot be solved by either executions or diplomatic appeals?

Drug mules are only a tiny piece in the wider tapestry of the OFW phenomenon. The OFW phenomenon is only also a tiny piece in a yet bigger tapestry of poverty experienced by the majority of our people. I am afraid that if this more fundamental and bigger issue is not addressed, more will become drug mules, who will be caught, charged, convicted, sentenced and executed. Between now and December 8, I will pray hard not only for our countryman awaiting execution but for our government leaders and people, that we will begin to see how we in one way or another have contributed to a situation of despair that stems from a disturbing lack of love, respect and active concern for life, particularly of the poor, ordinary and seemingly ‘nameless’ Filipinos.

Source: Fr. Roberto P. Reyes, Philippine Online Chronicle, December 2, 2011. Fr. Roberto P. Reyes, Former President, Coalition Against Death Penalty in the Philippines

Bishops to appeal Filipino drug mule’s death sentence

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said that the bishops’ collegial body will make an appeal to the Chinese government for Beijing to commute the penalty of capital punishment it had handed down against a 35-year-old Filipino drug mule.

“We will send a letter to China to appeal for humanitarian reasons to commute the penalty to life sentence instead of death penalty,” Fr. Edwin Corros, the executive secretary of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Migrant and Itinerant People, said on Friday.

“We are all aware that capital punishment in China is really death, but we will try to appeal the case of our Filipino compatriot,” Corros added.

The priest reminded overseas Filipinos not to accept offers of drug syndicates to become drug mules in exchange for money.

Corros, meanwhile, called on the government to assist more than 200 other Filipinos who are also facing the death penalty abroad.

The Philippine government earlier asked China to show mercy to the unnamed Filipino drug mule, who was caught on September 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport in Guangxi smuggling about 1.5 kilograms of heroin into China from Malaysia.

His death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme People’s Court in late November.

Source: The Manila Times, December 2, 2011

December 3, 2011 Update
'Mercy mission' rejected; China says Filipino's execution to push through Dec. 8

China has refused a visit from Vice President Jejomar C. Binay to ask for mercy for a Filipino on death row, and said the man's execution will not be delayed, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday.

On Sunday, all Masses in Catholic Churches will be offered for the intention of saving the convicted Filipino drug trafficker in response to Binay’s request to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). CBCP president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma instructed all dioceses to offer Masses to ask for divine intervention for the commutation of the execution.

The 35-year-old is scheduled to be executed on December 8 after he was caught on Sept. 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport in Guangxi, China, trying to smuggle about 1.495 kilos (about 3 pounds, 5 ounces) of heroin into China from Malaysia.

“The Chinese government has informed the Philippine government that the verdict of the Supreme People’s Court of China is final and executory,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

China added that it will do everything to assist the family of the convicted Filipino, whose identity and origin have been kept from media by both the DFA and Office of the Vice President.

Hernandez said the DFA is making arrangements to fly relatives of the condemned Filipino to China so they would be able to see their loved one.

“We have also been informed that the Chinese side is unable to arrange the visit of Vice President Binay to China at this time,” Hernandez said.

Binay, Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) Concerns, had been awaiting a go-signal from Beijing to push through with the visit, which is tantamount to a last-ditch effort to at least delay the scheduled execution.

Despite this becoming a major blow to the Filipino convict’s family, the DFA expressed hope that the Vice President would still be allowed by Chinese authorities to go to Beijing.

Once there, the Binay will personally hand to Chinese President Hu Jintao a letter of appeal from President Benigno S. Aquino III requesting a commutation of the death sentence “based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds”.

Binay was in a similar situation last February when he reportedly met with three high-ranking officials in Beijing to ask for a stay of the executions of convicted Filipino drug traffickers Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain. They were eventually executed after a brief stay.

The executions triggered widespread condemnation in the Philippines, where capital punishment was abolished in 2006.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is now hunting down the Filipino who recruited the doomed Filipino.

PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said that they have already identified the recruiter.

Source: Manila Bulletin, December 3, 2011

Related article:

China to Execute Filipino Drug Trafficker Dec. 8, ABC News, November 30, 2011