Drug trafficking Briton pardoned

President Benigno Aquino III INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

President Benigno Aquino III granted on December 21 the conditional pardon to British national William Robert Burton who was convicted of drug-related charges.

He also ordered the commutation of the sentences of four Filipinos convicted of various criminal offenses on December 23.

Press Undersecretary Abigail Valte read the orders in a news conference.  She said Burton’s conditional pardon had already been transmitted to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and to the directors of the Bureau of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Parole.

Burton has been required to “take the first available means of transportation to England” after his papers are processed by the Bureau of Immigration.

Burton, an undesirable alien, is not permitted to return to the Philippines.  Valte said Burton, whose conviction for drug trafficking earned him a prison term from the Pasay Regional Trial Court, still needs to pay a P20,000-fine.

Valte said she was “not informed of the reasons” for the pardon given to Burton or the commutations to the four Filipinos.

Valte also said she was not aware whether other commutations would be given before the end of the year.