China executes two Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking: Manila

The Philippines said on Saturday (Dec 2) that China executed two Filipinos for drug trafficking despite Manila's appeals to commute their death sentences to life in prison. According to a report by the news agency Associated Press, the Philippines' department of foreign affairs said that it did not announce the Nov 24 executions until the government was formally notified by China.

The department said that it provided all possible help to both Filipinos, including funding for their legal defence from the time they were arrested in 2013 until their 2016 convictions by a lower Chinese court. The department also did not identify them, citing the wishes of their families for privacy. 

“The government of the Republic of the Philippines further exhausted all measures available to appeal to the relevant authorities of the People’s Republic of China to commute their sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds,” the department said on Saturday.

“The Chinese government, citing their internal laws, upheld the conviction and the Philippines must respect China’s criminal laws and legal processes,” it added.

The foreign affairs department also said that while the government would continue to exhaust all possible avenues to assist Filipinos overseas, “ultimately it is the laws and sovereign decisions of foreign countries, and not the Philippines, which will prevail in these cases.”

These executions renewed a reminder for Filipinos travelling abroad to be vigilant against drug syndicates, which recruit travellers to serve as “drug mules” or couriers and to refuse to carry any uninspected package from other people.

The department said that while it was saddened by the executions, their deaths strengthened the government’s resolve to continue relentless efforts to rid the country of drug syndicates that prey on the vulnerable.

Meanwhile, two other penalty cases involving Filipinos were on appeal and under final review in China, as per the department. 

One other Filipino, Mary Jabe Veloso, was facing execution in Indonesia after being convicted of drug trafficking. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appealed for a commutation of her death sentence or a pardon but it remained to be seen whether it would be granted.

(With inputs from agencies)