MANILA, APRIL 1, 2011 (STAR) By Pia Lee-Brago [Photo is loading... Photos show Mirasol (left), sister of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, talking on the phone with relatives, and Cornelia Peralta, mother-in-law of Ramon Credo, crying upon hearing news of the execution. Boy Santos]
MANILA, Philippines - Weeks of anguish turned to national mourning yesterday as China carried out before noon the execution by lethal injection of convicted drug couriers Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain – the first Filipinos to be executed for drug crimes in China.
The three learned of their impending execution only during the promulgation of their final sentences, according to Consul General Noel Novicio of the Philippine embassy in Beijing.
Villanueva, 32, was convicted for smuggling 4.11 kilos of heroin on Dec. 24, 2008, and Credo, 42, four days later for smuggling a slightly larger amount of the same drug. Batain was sentenced to death on May 24 in the same year also for drug trafficking.
Under Chinese law, smuggling of 50 grams or more of heroin or similar drugs is punishable by death.
Malacañang expressed its condolences to the families of the three and vowed to address concerns over the rising cases of Filipinos falling prey to drug syndicates.
"Consistent with the laws and values of our country, we pleaded with the Chinese government to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment. Unfortunately, the Chinese government did not agree and we must respect their legal processes. I ask the public not to allow this situation to affect our historic friendship with the Chinese people," a statement from President Aquino read.
"The nation sympathizes with the families of the condemned, sharing their sense of looming loss. We sympathize with these families now. Their deaths are a vivid lesson in the tragic toll the drug trade takes on entire families," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.
Based on a timeline of events sent by the Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen to the Department of Foreign Affairs and read to media, Credo and Ordinario-Villanueva were taken to the execution chamber at 10:40 a.m.
The timeline sent by the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou showed that Batain was taken to the execution venue at 11:18 a.m.
Relatives of Credo and Villanueva together with consulate officials were allowed to talk to the two at separate booths from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Xiamen No. 1 Detention House.
The final and executory sentences on Credo followed by Villanueva were read to them at the 2nd Criminal Tribunal of the Intermediate People's Court starting at 9:40 a.m.
In Shenzhen, Batain's relatives arrived with consulate officials at the No. 3 Detention House at 9 a.m.
Villanueva's remains were presented to her relatives at noon at the Xiamen Funeral Parlor. A firm called Corpse International Travel will ship her remains to the Philippines.
Death certificates of Credo and Villanueva, as well as their passports and personal belongings, were turned over by the Intermediate People's Court officials to Philippine consulate officials at 1:50 p.m.
The DFA said the Credo family and consular officials claimed his cremated remains at the Xiamen Crematorium at Jimei District.
The Guangdong High People's Court officially notified the Philippine Consulate General of the executions at 12:30 p.m.
The DFA said the shipment of Batain's remains was being arranged with Chinese authorities.
The DFA observed a minute of silence at 12 noon in memory of Credo, Villanueva and Batain.
"To each of the three families we'd like to say that we're truly sorry for the loss of their loved ones, that they're about to endure today. We'll pray for them," acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters after a special Mass at 8 a.m. at the DFA.
"May God bless their souls," DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said. "In deference to the extreme difficulties and grief being experienced by the families of the three Filipinos, the DFA is not making further statements as of the moment," Malaya said.
China had originally set the execution of the three last Feb. 21 and 22 but decided to give them a reprieve following a visit from Vice President Jejomar Binay, the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers affairs.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said he and President Aquino, along with several Cabinet officials and members of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, offered prayers for the three Filipinos at the Palace's chapel.
"We decided to go to the chapel in the Palace to have a prayer for the repose of the souls of three Filipinos. Nagdasal kami (we prayed) led by Cardinal Rosales and prayed for them," he told reporters in an informal briefing. The bishops were at the Palace to discuss the reproductive health bill with Aquino.
Lessons learned
Binay, who had flown to Beijing to plead for a stay in the execution of the three, appealed yesterday for prayers for the repose of their souls and advised Filipinos to draw lessons from the tragedy.
"Let us all pray for the repose of their souls and for strength for their families. In this time of grief, let us give them our support and prayers," he said.
"I joined the entire Filipino nation in praying for the souls of our three kababayan to have peace. Let us also pray for their respective families. May the Lord give them the strength to overcome their grief," Binay said.
"We must all commit ourselves fully to the fight against drugs, and to take all necessary action to stop this menace from destroying more lives and families," he said. Binay was in Qatar yesterday, where he offered Mass for the three.
"The administration of President Aquino is committed to look after the well-being of our overseas Filipino workers. Our President is determined to introduce much-needed reforms in government to address the concerns of our OFWs, and make our government agencies more responsive to their needs," Binay said.
The Supreme Court also extended sympathies to the victims' families but said the laws of China should be respected. "We're supposed to respect the rule of law there in the same way we have a rule of law in our jurisdiction that foreigners have to respect," SC spokesman Midas Marquez said in a press briefing.
Sympathies and warnings
Lawmakers joined the nation in mourning and said the tragedy should serve as wake-up call for authorities to step up the campaign against drug syndicates.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said authorities, particularly anti-drug law enforcers, should be stricter in screening outbound travelers.
He also warned Filipinos traveling out of the country to be wary of criminal syndicates who might dupe them into carrying illegal drugs.
"We exhausted all efforts to save the lives of our kababayans. We each made our separate appeals to the Chinese government, on top of the official negotiation the government has made, but the Chinese government remained firm in their decision," Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, chairman of the House committee on overseas workers' affairs, said.
"We also raise our voices and join the world in condemning the implementation of death penalty in China and elsewhere, and call for its subsequent abolition," Bello said. There are still 66 countries that implement this punishment.
"Now that the last-ditch efforts to stop the killings have failed, it is a matter of justice that we now find out if the government could have done something more to prevent their conviction and punishment," Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said the executions should prompt the government "to be serious in its anti-drug campaign and implement strictly the law at the borders so that people will not be emboldened to commit crimes."
Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy appealed to the government "to guarantee that similar tragedies will not fall on the more than 72 overseas Filipino workers now languishing in various Chinese prison cells on illegal drug and other serious criminal offenses."
Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said "many of these OFWs have long complained of the lack of legal assistance and support from the government, a problem that will most likely continue as the Aquino government slashed the budget for legal assistance to OFWs for this year," Ilagan said.
She said only P30 million is allocated for legal assistance to OFWs in the 2011 budget as against P100 million in 2009.
Laws followed
Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Santiago said China cannot be faulted for standing firm in its decision.
"The principle of international law is once you enter the territory of another state, you immediately fall under the laws and under the legal regime of that state," Santiago said.
"As a nation, we grieve for the loss of our kababayans who were executed in China today. But along with our sympathies to their families and loved ones, we must also look into the circumstances that have brought about the situation," Senate committee on youth, women and family relations chairperson Pia Cayetano said.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan advised fellow public servants to "do what we can to modernize our economy so that our people would seek gainful employment here at home rather than elsewhere." With Delon Porcalla, Paolo Romero, Edu Punay, Jose Rodel Clapano, and Marvin Sy
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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