Pinoy to be executed in China on Dec. 8

MANILA, Philippines - Another Filipino has been scheduled for execution next week after his conviction for a drug trafficking case was upheld by China's high court.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the 35-year-old Filipino was convicted by a lower court in China for smuggling 1.495 kilos of heroin in Guangxi. The Filipino, who was not identified by the DFA, was arrested on September 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport.

It said that the local court's decision has been upheld by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing.

"The High People’s Court (HPC) of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region informed the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou on November 28 that the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in Beijing affirmed the lower court’s decision on the carrying out of the death penalty to a Filipino national convicted of drug trafficking," the DFA said in a statement.

The DFA said that the Filipino's execution has been scheduled on December 8 (Thursday).

The unidentified male Filipino may become the fourth Filipino to be executed in China this year. Last March, drug mules Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32; Ramon Credo, 42; and Elizabeth Batain, 38, were executed in Xiamen and Shenzhen.

The Chinese high court, also this year, commuted the sentences of two more Filipinos, with similar drug trafficking cases. The two Filipinos' original sentences were death penalty without reprieve and then commuted to death penalty with two-year reprieve.

"This is the last death penalty conviction, without reprieve, which concerns drug trafficking in China’s highest court," the DFA said referring to the Filipino's case.

Aquino appeals sentence

The DFA said that President Benigno Aquino III has already sent a letter of appeal to Chinese President Hu Jintao requesting the commutation of the Filipino's death penalty to life imprisonment.

It added that Secretary Albert del Rosario has also reiterated the appeal to the Chinese Ambassador for a 'mitigated sentence for the Filipino national’s case."

The family of the Filipino national has been informed of the decision, the DFA said. It said that arrangements are being made for the Filipino's family to fly to China at the soonest possible time.

The DFA said that the ruling of China's high court was issued despite the Philippine government's exhaustive legal assistance to the Filipino. It said that the condemned Filipino was represented by lawyers "at all levels of proceedings."

"The Philippine government provided the Filipino national all necessary and possible assistance and ensured that his legal rights were observed and that his welfare protected from the time of his arrest and throughout the judicial process," the DFA added.

During the hearings, the DFA said that Philippine Government made sustained and exhaustive representations and appeals with the Chinese Government at all levels to seek mitigated sentences for all Filipinos on death penalty.

It said that officials from the Philippine Consulate in Guangzhou made continuous representations with the HPC of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) 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 of China to convey the Philippine Government’s appeal to commute the death sentence without reprieve of the Filipino national to life imprisonment.

The DFA said it respects Chinese laws and the verdict of its high court on the case.

The foreign affairs department, meanwhile, reiterated its call to overseas Filipino workers to avoid being victimized by international drug syndicates.

The Philippines believes that the Filipinos arrested for drug trafficking in China are victims of international drug syndicates, which uses desperate migrant workers as drug couriers. - Angelo L. Gutierrez