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Efforts to save Vecina from death will continue - Palace exec


MANILA, Philippines – A senior Malacanang official assured on Tuesday that the government and its embassy in Kuwait will continue to explore ways to save the life of death convict May Vecina. “Nalulungkot tayo sa hatol ng Kuwait (Cassation Court) kay May Vecina, subalit hindi hihinto ang ating pamahalaan at embahada sa paghanap ng paraan para masagip ang ating kababayan," said Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo. “Harinawa mapabilang siya sa daan-daang OFWs na napapalaya sa piitan at naiuuwi sa pagsisikap ng ating pamahalaan taun-taon," he added. Vecina, 29, was sentenced in July last year to die by hanging for the death of a six-year-old son of her employers in January 2007. The lawyer of Vecina, who hails from Barangay Dalapitan, Matalam, North Cotabato, immediately appealed her conviction to Kuwait’s Cassation Court. Vecina's husband, Leo, wrote a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last year, asking her to “exert all means" to save his wife’s life. The couple has two children -- Quennie Jane, 8, and King James 4. Apart from the murder of her ward, Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaibi, Vecina was also charged with two counts of frustrated murder for allegedly slashing the throat of the victim’s 13-year-old brother Abdullah and stabbing his 17-year-old sister Hajer. Reports said Vecina jumped from the second floor of her employer’s home after committing the crime. Earlier reports indicated she reacted violently to insults hurled at her by her employer's family. Following the Kuwait high court’s ruling, the verdict can still be appealed to the Kuwait Emir for pardon or commutation of sentence, just like what happened in the case of Marilou Ranario whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after President Arroyo personally appealed to the Kuwait Emir to save her life. – GMANews.TV
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