Aquino resigned to Filipino drug mule’s fate

President Benigno Aquino III

It seems President Benigno Aquino III is resigned to the fate of the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) awaiting execution tomorrow in China’s death row.

Nonetheless, Mr. Aquino is waiting for his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao’s reply to his letter requesting a commutation of the sentence meted on the Filipino migrant worker found guilty of a drug trafficking charge.

“I’m still awaiting a reply from the letter that I sent President Hu Jintao but I will have to be realistic given the past that the time that we did appeal to them, we were not able to secure a commutation for those [who] were executed previously,” President Aquino said in a news forum Tuesday.

President Aquino sent Vice President Jejomar Binay as his special envoy to the Chinese government in asking for relief for the three OFWs that were executed earlier this year after being convicted of drug trafficking.

The executions were delayed but were eventually carried out.

“We have communicated the same time and again, to our Chinese counterparts and to their Embassy officials; they answered and replied that there is a serious problem with drugs in their country and this has gone through judicial process,” President Aquino said referring to the due process and the continued implementation of the death penalty in China.