Chinese Gov’t Cancels Binay’s Trip

With the intention to plead for the life of a convicted Filipino woman  who faced execution within the next 24 hours for drug smuggling in  China, Vice President Jejomar Binay was informed by the Chinese  government that now is not the convenient time for him to visit there.

Binay was scheduled to leave yesterday to give a letter from President  Aquino to Chinese President Ji Xinping seeking commutation of the  death sentence on the 35-year-old Filipino set to be executed between  June 27 and July 2 after China?s Supreme Court last June 26 reaffirmed  her death sentence by a lower court.

The woman has been detained for two years since her arrest at the  international airport in Hangzou in January 2011 for allegedly  attempting to smuggle more than six kilos of heroin. Drug trafficking  is punishable by death in China.

In his statement, the Vice President said that while Aquino respected  the ruling by China?s high court, the president wanted to appeal to  the Chinese leader to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.

According to Binay, he is sad that China has chosen to take the  position regarding his visit. Given the development, he is left with  no option but to cancel his trip to China. The vice president is  asking for prayers for the fellow Filipino and her family.

Binay reiterated that the government respected China?s laws and was  not questioning its decision. He said that he wanted to go to China  ?to personally appeal for compassion.?

The Department of Foreign Affairs has not released any details about  the Filipino, except for being a mother of two who resided in Metro  Manila prior to her arrest.

The Filipino woman was held with her 27-year-old male cousin, who  yielded six kilos of heroin. He was also meted out the death sentence  but was granted a two-year reprieve within where he could reduce his  sentence to life imprisonment if he maintained good behavior.

Recruited as a drug courier by a Nigerian national in 2007, the woman  was reported to have brought illegal drugs into China 18 times between  2008 and 2011, earning $3,000 to $4,000 each time.

Manila and Beijing have been locked in a dispute over a group of  islands believed to be sitting atop vast oil and gas reserves in the  West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

They had faced off at Panatag Shoal for two months last year and early  this year, Manila brought a case against Beijing to the United Nations  for arbitration. In May, Manila protested the presence of three  Chinese ships near Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Reef).

In the face of China?s aggressive assertion of its claims, Philippine  defense ministers have disclosed a plan to allow the United States  access to existing military bases as part of its pivot to the  Asia-Pacific, a program which China don’t accept.

Source:  globalnation.inquirer.net