DSWD offers to assist kin of 3 Pinoys in China's death row

The families of the three Filipinos facing execution for drug-related offenses in China may avail of financial assistance and stress debriefing from the government, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said. Soliman said on Wednesday that her department is ready to offer these services to the families of the three convicts on death row, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus reported. The report said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is now coordinating with the families of the three Filipinos, whose death sentences were upheld by China's Supreme People's Court. Earlier the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine government is now making last-ditch efforts to save the three Filipinos facing execution. “Hindi tayo mag-gi-give up. Naka-fullcourt press tayo and we are exerting all possible efforts," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Eduardo Malaya said in an interview on dzRH radio on Wednesday. (We are not giving up. In basketball, this is like a full-court press. We are exerting all possible efforts.) Malaya did not elaborate on the "last-ditch efforts" the government was making. However, Malaya said on Wednesday the cases – and the likely execution - of the three convicts should be a wakeup call to overseas Filipinos. He said the incident should serve as a wake-up call for Filipinos against becoming unwitting drug couriers. He reminded Filipinos abroad not to agree to carrying other people’s baggage, especially if they had just met the person at the airport or online. “Our people must take full responsibility for their actions by being on guard," he said. If he executions push through, he said this will be the first time that Filipinos are executed in China for drug-related offenses. He noted 72 earlier cases of Filipinos in drug-related cases were given two-year reprieves. – VVP, GMA News