VP Binay says Family Doesn’t Want Public to Know Execution

Vice President Jejomar Binay said he will neither confirm nor deny whether Pinay convict was executed Tuesday, the supposed schedule for her execution, Gma News Online said.

The vice president said on Tuesday afternoon following the request of the convict’s family asking the government not to announce to the public whether she has already been executed.

Binay revealed this to reporters in a press briefing on Tuesday, the day when the Filipina was expected to be executed.

The Filipina, who entered China from Dubai through a connecting flight in Hong Kong, was apprehended at the Hangzhou International Airport on January 25, 2011 after authorities found 6.198 kilos in her luggage, Gma news online reported.

The news online added that she was arrested with a Filipino male companion – a cousin – who was caught carrying 6.171 kilos of heroin. But the woman was found to be a repeat smuggler and sentenced to death.

Binay also said the Filipina will not be receiving any benefits from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) as she went to China as a tourist, not as an overseas Filipino worker, Gma News Online said.

“Sabihin na natin ng diretso, walang matatanggap ito sa OWWA dahil hindi naman ito documented overseas worker,” Binay said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, also on Tuesday, said the execution of the Filipina may be “very imminent.”

“We have not yet received any specific date or time for the execution of our kababayan in Hangzhou but it seems that it is very imminent,” DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said in a press briefing.

“We don’t know if we will be informed before or after (the execution),” Hernandez said. “There are cases that we were informed before and there were cases that it happened right after the visit of the family of the accused.”

If the execution pushes through, she would be the fifth Filipino drug courier to be punished by death through lethal injection in China. China executed two Filipino women and two men for drug trafficking in 2011.

In China alone, there are a total of 213 drug-related cases involving Filipino nationals in China. Of this figure, 28 resulted in death penalty convictions with two-year reprieves, 67 got life imprisonment and 107 termed imprisonment while 10 are still pending in Chinese courts, Gma news online reported.

A person caught in possession of illegal drugs in the amount of more than 50 grams is meted the death penalty in China if convicted.

The Philippine government said it respects China’s decision, but hopes it would heed its appeal to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment.

President Benigno S. Aquino III appealed to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping through a letter on June 27 to spare the Filipino’s life. China has yet to respond to Aquino’s request, Gma news online said.

Source: Gma news Online, Gma news Tv