Government to fly Filipino convict’s kin to China

Vice President Jejomar Binay had asked to be allowed by the Chinese government to go to Beijing to personally hand over a letter of appeal from President Aquino to China’s president and to request for a commutation of sentence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, according to DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez.. INQUIRER file photo

Four family members of a Filipino drug trafficker are set to leave early this week for China in time for the convict’s scheduled execution by lethal injection on December 8, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“The Philippine government will provide all possible assistance to the convict’s family, including air fare and accommodations in China,” Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.

The “tentative date for their departure is Tuesday,” Hernandez said.

The DFA has declined to identify the convict as well as his relatives who are traveling to China’s Guangxi province where the execution will take place.

Although China has turned down appeals for clemency for the drug smuggler, its Manila embassy said it would help the family members make the trip.

Ethan Sun Yi, deputy chief of the political section of the Chinese Embassy in Makati City and the mission’s spokesperson, said the Beijing government was “ready to render as much assistance as possible to the inmate’s family members who are traveling to China soon.”

On Saturday, the DFA announced that the execution of the Filipino would push through on December 8 as ordered by the Supreme People’s Court of China.

“The Chinese government has informed the Philippine government that the verdict of the SPC is final and executory,” the DFA said in a statement, adding, “We respect Chinese law and the verdict of the SPC on this case.”

The DFA has “also been informed that Beijing is unable to arrange the (proposed) visit of Vice President Jejomar Binay to China at this time,” according to Hernandez.

Binay had asked to be allowed by the Chinese government to go to Beijing to personally hand over a letter of appeal from President Aquino to China’s president, and to request for a commutation of sentence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.”

Even if Beijing has refused the request for a visit by Binay, Malacañang on Sunday said it was still looking for other ways to appeal to China to spare the life of the 35-year-old Filipino convict.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said that she received an advisory from the DFA on Saturday saying that “the Chinese side is unable to arrange for a visit of the Vice President to China at this time.”

“We respect that (decision) and we are still exhausting some other means to arrange access for the Vice President to make his appeal in our behalf of the convicted Filipino national,” Valte said in an interview over state radio dzRB.

She said Filipino diplomats will continue to talk to their counterparts “to convey our appeal” on “humanitarian and compassionate grounds.”

Meanwhile, Senator Loren Legarda said the government must address the deeper reasons why Filipinos have to resort to becoming drug mules if it wants to finally put a stop to the executions of those caught smuggling drugs abroad.  Jerry E. Esplanada, Christine O. Avendaño and Cathy C. Yamsuan