(PHOTO AT LEFT - Migrant workers hold posters during the signing of the Seven-Point Migrants' Covenant in QC/Photo courtesy of Migrante International)
MANILA, OCTOBER 26, 2010 (STAR ) By Pia Lee-Brago - One hundred twelve overseas Filipino workers have been meted the death penalty, most of them drug mules in China, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
As of Oct. 21, 2010, the DFA said there are 76 Filipinos in China who have been convicted and sentenced to death for drug trafficking.
Of the active death penalty cases, 16 are OFWs in the Middle East charged with murder/homicide (including rape/robbery with murder).
The cases of 18 OFWs in Malaysia who were sentenced to death include drug trafficking, robbery with homicide, rape with homicide and murder.
During a briefing by the DFA for Vice President and presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers Jejomar Binay, Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said there are already 205 drug trafficking cases.
"They have been convicted and sentenced to death. The cases were appealed to the High Court and pending review by the People's Supreme Court in Beijing," Conejos said. "The DFA continues to exhaust all the legal remedies to provide assistance to our OFWs there."
The DFA explained that these are death penalty and not death row cases. The latter implies that final judgment of conviction has already been reached and the Filipinos concerned are simply awaiting execution.
The DFA earlier said the decision on the cases of two Filipinos sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling is final and should not be linked to the backlash against the Philippines for the death of eight Hong Kong nationals in a hostage-taking in Manila last August.
Conejos said the decision on the two Filipinos does not need a review and was handed down long before the hostage crisis in Manila.
Five death penalty cases in China who were convicted for drug trafficking, Conejos said, are the most critical. One of the five Filipinos was found in possession of 4,110 grams of heroine.
He said the Philippines continues with high-level intercession to save the Filipinos sentenced to death.
"We recognize the sovereignty of China. We respect the laws of China but we appeal to them for humanitarian reason that they be saved," he said.
Under Chinese laws, the trafficking of 50 grams or more is punishable by 15 years imprisonment or death.
According to Conejos, a drug mule is offered US$3,000-$4,000 to transport drugs.
The DFA said there are now 302 drug-related cases in Asia involving Filipinos, mostly female victims who were lured to act as "drug mules" by international syndicates.
A majority of the cases are in China (205), Hong Kong (26) and Malaysia (17) and more female victims than males at 221 cases.
The DFA reiterated its warning to Filipinos traveling overseas on possession or trafficking of illegal drugs. This is in the light of the continuous arrests of Filipinos in drug-related cases, particularly in Asia.
The present figure is an increase from the 102 active death penalty cases of OFWs reported by the DFA in July.
All the accused OFWs are assisted by legal counsel and regular updates on the status of their cases are submitted by the concerned embassies or consulates general to the DFA.
The Philippine government has regularly interceded, through the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the President, on behalf of numerous OFWs with death penalty cases.
The DFA said it will recommend further presidential intercessions as the need arises.
Since January 2006, 35 impositions of death penalty have been commuted to life imprisonment. Of these, 15 were already repatriated to the Philippines while 20 are currently serving commuted sentences.
In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, there is possibility of commutation of death sentence under the following conditions:
• Tanazul (forgiveness) from the family of the victim to settle the private aspect of the crime, given upon the payment of diyah (blood money); and
• Clemency of the public aspect of the crime, granted by the Saudi King or Emir of Kuwait upon high-level intercessions led by the President.
Of the 16 pending death penalty cases in the Middle East, the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs has already obtained four signed tanazuls and is currently negotiating or commencing negotiations for 10 OFWs.
Oct. 27 a Non-Working Holiday for Some Brgys; Nov. 2 Not a HolidayOctober 26, 2010, 10:01am
(BULLETIN) MANILA, Philippines (PNA) — President Benigno Aquino III has declared October 27 a special non-working holiday on areas where the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will be held, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. said on Tuesday.
This, after Monday's elections on some areas were postponed due to delay in the delivery of election materials and other problems.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said there are 1,732 barangays in the country where barangay and SK elections were reset to Tuesday and Wednesday.
But Ochoa clarified that those areas where the barangay and SK elections were held were not covered by the special non-working holiday.
Meanwhile, Ochoa said President Aquino has not declared November 2, All Soul's Day, as a special non-working holiday
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