DFA hopes to conclude prisoner swap deal with China

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday hopes to conclude a prisoner swap agreement with China that would allow more than 200 Filipinos jailed there for drug trafficking to serve their sentences in the Philippines. DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said “We will do our best to conclude it at earliest time possible because it will not only benefit Filipinos but also Chinese nationals in jail here." In September last year, the Philippines initiated talks for a bilateral Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreements (TSPA) with China. The Philippine government has forwarded a draft agreement to the Chinese side. The Chinese Ministry of Justice welcomed the initiative and conveyed its willingness to sign the agreement, Malaya said. The ministry “expressed openness for the commencement of the consultation on the matter shortly," Malaya added. However, he did not say if there is already a schedule for the negotiations of the agreement. Existing agreements The Philippines currently has similar existing agreements with Thailand, Hong Kong and Spain. The DFA also has a similar signed agreement with Canada which it will submit to the Senate for its concurrence. The TSPA is an agreement that specifies that individuals who have been tried and convicted in a signatory country have the option to serve the remaining portion of their sentences in their home country. The accord has a humanitarian objective aimed at assisting the rehabilitation of sentenced individuals. However, the agreement does not cover those sentenced to death with finality. Strasbourg Convention Malaya said the Philippine government initiated talks in November last year for the country’s accession to the Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The convention is a multilateral framework involving 64 states, including all European Union countries, the United States, Japan and Australia. The Philippine government is pushing for the immediate signing of the accord because of the alarming number of Filipinos jailed in China for drug smuggling. At least 72 Filipinos have pending cases and could be sentenced to death if found guilty. Diplomatic victory Malaya said the Philippine government scored a "diplomatic victory" when China made an unprecedented move to defer the executions of three Filipino drug traffickers, citing its long-standing friendship with the Philippines. He noted that China punished nationals from Britain, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia with death for committing the same offense. China has not relayed an official communication on the new schedule of executions, but the Philippine government hopes that Beijing would eventually commute the three’s death sentences to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the Philippine government denied offering concessions to Beijing in exchange for a lighter sentence for the Filipinos, who were supposed to be executed early this week. Malaya belied reports that the government compromised the country’s claims on Kalayaan Island Group, part of the contested territories in the Spratlys. “These are baseless and idle talk," Malaya stressed. – VVP, GMA News