Binay to fly to China on mercy mission

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday Vice President Jejomar Binay will go to China on a mercy mission to try to save a Filipino drug trafficker on death row.

Binay will convey a request from President Benigno Aquino to spare the life of the 35-year-old man, who is set to be executed next week, Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

The government was awaiting final confirmation from Chinese authorities on who would meet Binay so the date of the trip could be finalized, Hernandez said.

“We want to ensure that he is able to meet top officials in China who would be appropriate for this issue,” Hernandez told Agence France-Presse.

The death row inmate was caught on September 2008 at the Guilin International Airport smuggling about 1.5 kilograms (three pounds five ounces) of heroin into China from Malaysia, the DFA said.

His death sentence was confirmed late last month, Hernandez said.

Binay went on a similar mission in February to China to save three Filipino drug mules from the death row, and secured a temporary stay of execution.

But Beijing went ahead with the executions a month later, triggering widespread condemnation in the Catholic Philippines where capital punishment was abolished in 2006.

Those executions put the spotlight on the country’s millions of Filipino overseas workers, some of whom are duped into doing illegal activities in exchange for extra cash to send to their families back home.