MANILA, MARCH 19, 2011 (MALAYA) BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS - 'Was Lacierda serious or was he saying this just for PR purposes? They should stop giving false hopes.'
IT'S not surprising that China, after giving in to the request of President Aquino to spare the three Filipinos in the death row for drug trafficking, has decided to push through with the execution.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said in a press conference the death sentence on Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain "will be carried out sooner or later, and everything will be done in accordance with Chinese laws."
The date of the execution will be announced by the Supreme Court of Justice in China," Liu said.
In Malacañang, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said "we would still try to appeal."
Was Lacierda serious or was he saying this just for PR purposes? They should stop giving false hope to the public, especially the family.
In the same way that we are turned off by another country asking us to make exceptions in our implementation of the law for them, we should not be doing that with other countries. Chinese officials have always underscored "in accordance with Chinese laws" in their statements. Unless Malacañang has proof that the three were victims of miscarriage of justice, they should stop asking the Chinese government to violate their laws for the sake of Filipino drug mules.
They should instead pay attention to the reasons that drove these three to be drug mules. That they were caught in China made a mockery of the control system in the Philippines.
This is not the first time that Filipinos doing an illegal act sailed though the Philippine customs and immigration checks only to be caught in another country.
Another illegal drug case was that of former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson who was caught in Hong Kong. The Euro-generals case involved ranking PNP officials held at the airport in Moscow with a large amount of undeclared foreign currency.
And of course, the case of the sons of former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia who had been merrily bringing out thousands of filched dollars until they were caught by customs officials in the United States.
The President can't be begging every foreign government to exempt a Filipino from punishment for violating their laws without undermining the country's integrity.
The President's public relations advisers should also re-assess if they are not going overboard with the "bleeding heart" image they are trying to cultivate for the country's chief executive at the expense of competence and respect for the law.
***
We hope the information we got that the President is considering family friend Domingo Lee as ambassador to China is not true. Relations with China are full of challenges and it is important that the basis for the choice of the person who will represent the country in Beijing should be competence and integrity and not just family connections.
We have seen the folly of putting premium on family friendship in the case of the former foreign secretary Alberto Romulo.
Former Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo (the better one) has expressed his reservations about sending a businessman to China because of possible conflict of interest. The two names who have been mentioned as being considered for Beijing are banker Edward Go and Alfonso Uy, who is in the flour milling business.
Romulo is batting for a career ambassador. In his column in the Philippines Star, Romulo said, "What I am driving at is that a person of vast experience, keen intellect and political savvy – which inevitably points to a career diplomat - would almost certainly be a better choice for a vital post like Beijing. May I suggest that there are potential seasoned diplomats in the career service like Luis Cruz, our current ambassador to Korea, Cristina Ortega, Assistant Secretary for Asia-Pacific and Antonio Basilio, the current MECO resident representative in Taipei (previously posted in Beijing and former deputy chief of mission in Washington). There are also experienced and respected retired ambassadors to China like Sonia Brady, Romeo Ong, and Philip Mabilangan. These retirees belong to the same generation as the potential candidates ."
The point is, there is no dearth of qualified, competent persons with training in foreign service for the position of ambassador to China.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
