3 Pinoy drug mules in China to be executed March 30

(Updated 3:44 p.m.) The three Filipinos who were sentenced to death for bringing illegal drugs to China will be executed on March 30, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday. “The Fujian People’s Court and Guangdong High People’s Court have informed the Philippine consulates general in Xiamen and Guangzhou on the date of the carrying out of the death penalty in three Filipino nationals," DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said at a press briefing. “The Death penalty will be carried out on March 30." Malaya said the carrying out of the sentence was conveyed to them Tuesday through note verbale. “And it was called in first before the note was transmitted," he said.
The three Filipinos — Ramon Credo, 42; Elizabeth Batain, 38; and Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, 32 — were originally scheduled to be executed last February 20 and 21. The executions were put on hold following the humanitarian visit to Beijing of Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ concerns. The Supreme People’s Court of China affirmed the death sentences on the three last February 11. Binay went to Beijing upon orders from President Benigno Aquino III on Feb. 18. Ordinario-Villanueva was convicted for smuggling 4,110 grams of heroin on Dec. 24, 2008 into Xiamen, while Credo was convicted for smuggling 4,113 grams of heroin on Dec. 28, 2008 in Xiamen. Batain, meanwhile, was convicted for smuggling 6,800 grams of heroin on May 24, 2008, in Shenzhen. Under the Chinese criminal code, smuggling of 50 grams of heroin or any narcotic drug into China is punishable by death. During Wednesday’s briefing, Malaya said the Philippine government did everything it could in the case of the three Filipinos. “As the public is well aware, the Philippine government provided the three Filipinos all possible legal and consular assistance. The government ensured that their legal rights were respected and observed and their welfare protected from the time of their arrests and throughout the judicial process and even up to this very day," Malaya said. Malaya said the families of the three have already been informed of the development. “Their families have been informed of the carrying out of the sentence and arrangements are being made for them to depart China during the weekend in order to visit and see their loved ones," he said. Malaya said there are still no plans regarding the transportation of the bodies to the Philippines. “We are not there yet. We are in the phase of arranging the trip of the families to the China," he said. Around 500 Filipinos, mostly women, are detained in various jails abroad for drug trafficking, according to the DFA. Of this figure, 227 cases are from China while the rest are in Middle East and Southeast Asian countries. Drug smuggling cases among Filipino women were on the rise since 2007, but incidents of trafficking in China was on its peak in 2008. Since then, there has been a dramatic increase of "drug mules," specifically targeting Filipino women, aged 20 to 40 years, by international syndicates. The DFA has repeatedly appealed to Filipinos not to allow themselves be victimized by drug syndicates and to be extremely cautious when dealing with strangers in airports and other areas of transit. — LBG/HS/KBK, GMA News