MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government has flown to China four relatives of a convicted Filipino drug trafficker scheduled to be executed Thursday.
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The four family members left Tuesday, an hour before Vice President Jejomar Binay personally delivered to the Chinese Embassy in Makati City the letter of President Aquino to Premiere Hu Jin Tao asking for the commutation of the death sentence of the 35-year-old Filipino.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said Tuesday that the family members—three women and one man—were accompanied by a Philippine consular official in their flight to Guangzhou.
“They will be attended to by our consulate there. A visit has already been scheduled so that they can speak to him,” he said.
Hernandez said the family insisted on their privacy and requested that their flight details be kept confidential. Sources at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, however, said the family members, onboard China Southern Airlines flight CZ-3092, departed from NAIA Terminal 1 for Guangzhou at around 12:10 p.m.
“I met them a few moments ago [before their flight] and they are really in a sad situation. They’re still hoping that the sentence on their brother will be commuted to life imprisonment,” Hernandez said.
From Guangzhou, the family members will be brought to the convict, who is imprisoned in the city of Guilin in the Guangzxi Zhuang autonomous region, on the Chinese boarder with Vietnam.
On the other hand, Binay arrived at the Chinese Embassy in Dasmarinas Village around 1:15 p.m. and was welcomed by chargé d’affaires Bai Tian, who received the President’s letter.
“We fully respect the laws of China and we are appealing to you on humanitarian grounds,” Binay told Bai.
Binay, in a statement, said he reiterated that the Philippines is “a predominantly Christian nation” and told the Chinese diplomat that Dec. 8 holds “a special significance” to Filipinos as it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, who was declared principal patroness of the Philippines by Pope Pius XII in September 1942.
Bai gave the assurance that Mr. Aquino’s letter “would be immediately delivered to the concerned people,” Binay said.
In his letter to the Chinese Premier, Mr. 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,” Mr. 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.
Binay, the Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Concerns, was supposed to leave for China to deliver the letter to the Chinese president, but the Chinese government said “it was unable to arrange his visit at this time.”
Binay said he remained optimistic that the Filipino will not be executed this week.
“Hannga’t di pa po nangyayari ang kinakatakutan natin ay mayroon pa po tayong pag-asa. Dagdagan na lang po natin ang ating mga panalangin at may awa po ang Diyos (Until what we fear has not yet happened, we continue to have hope. Let us just pray more because God is merciful),” he added.
The Filipino was convicted for smuggling 1.495 .495 kilos of heroin. He was arrested on Sept. 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport, from Malaysia, after authorities found the heroin in his possession.
Last month, China’s Supreme People’s Court affirmed the death sentence on the Filipino, who is to be executed by lethal injection.
In practice, a death convict in China only gets to know the carrying of his sentence on the day of the scheduled execution itself.
