MANILA — The Filipino tourist, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges in China, has been executed Thursday (December 8).
Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino worker concerns, made the announcement from Indonesia.
Binay, who is attending a democracy forum in Bali, said the 35-year-old Filipino was executed via lethal injection at 12:30 p.m. in Liuzhou County, Guangzi.
The government has withheld the name of the convict upon the request of his family in the Philippines.
Binay reported that family members were able to visit the Filipino in his jail at 8:00 a.m. today. Thereafter, the Filipino heard the Guilin Municipal Intermediate People’s Court’s decision at 9:25 a.m. and left for the execution venue in Liuzhou at 10:15 a.m.
Binay said the Filipino was given the last rites and communion.
Binay said officials of the Philippine consulate in China would return to the Chinese courts to obtain the documents needed for the release of the Filipino’s body.
Binay said he still doesn’t know the plans of the family but consulate officials said the remains of the Filipino may be repatriated either on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
Last Tuesday, Binay personally delivered to the Chinese Embassy in Makati the letter of President Aquino to President Hu Jin Tao asking for the commutation of the death sentence of the Filipino national.
In his letter to the Chinese President, Aquino appealed that the Filipino’s sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.
“For humanitarian reasons, I appeal to Your Excellency to spare the life of [the Filipino] who was convicted and sentenced to death by the Guilin Municipal People’s Court,” Aquino wrote.
“I wish to stress that my Government fully respects the law of China. However, I am moved by compassion for the family of [the Filipino] who is appealing that he be given a second chance to reform himself,” he added.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Raul Hernandez had also earlier noted that the said Filipino was not an OFW and that he had entered the Chinese territories as a tourist.
Hernandez said the Filipino was arrested in 2008 for carrying 1.495 kilos of heroin to China.
Last March 30, the Chinese government executed three Filipino convicts: Sally Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain.
Villanueva, 32, was nabbed for carrying some 4,410 grams of the prohibited substance. Credo, 42, was arrested at the Gaoji International Airport in Xiamen for carrying 4,113 grams of heroin. Batain, 38, was held at the Shenzhen Airport with 6,800 grams of heroin.
The three were previously scheduled to be executed on February 20 and 21 but was eventually postponed after Binay made a personal appeal to the Chinese government last February 18.
