MANILA – Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III warned Filipinos on Friday against syndicates who may try to use them as drug mules, saying that countries such as China have very tough laws on drug trafficking.
Aquino issued the warning after a Filipino was sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking and is set to be executed on next week.
Aquino said his government will be relentless in warning the public about the dangers of drug trafficking. He also urged Filipinos not to resort to drug trafficking, adding that the economic condition in the Philippines is improving.
Earlier, Malacanang said it will not stage a last-minute attempt to save the life of the convicted drug, saying his death “should not cause a hiccup in Filipino-Chinese relations.”
“We have already exhausted all legal efforts and the sentence will be carried out on December 8,” Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
He said the trial and sentencing of the overseas Filipino workers, who was found guilty of trying to smuggle in 1.495 kilos of heroin, “was done in compliance with their legal processes. We respect that, and I believe that in the same manner that the three Filipinos were previously … executed, this should not cause a hiccup in Filipino-Chinese relations.”
He was referring to the executions earlier this year of three drug mules.
Lacierda added that the December 8 execution “should not in any way be seen as a slap on the Philippine government.”
He said President Benigno Aquino III has already sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao requesting commutation of the death penalty to life imprisonment while Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario also made representations with Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao for a mitigated sentence.
Both efforts were in vain, he said.
The Filipino national, who had come from Malaysia, was apprehended on September 13, 2008 at the Guilin International Airport.
But Vice President Jejomar Binay announced Thursday that he would leave for China on a mercy mission to try to save the Filipino, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
The country's Catholic bishops also joined calls for clemency, saying they would send a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao to commute the Filipino's death sentence to life iimprisonment.
Binay will convey a request from President Benigno Aquino III to spare the life of the 35-year-old man who is set to be executed Dec. 8, foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said.
The government was awaiting final confirmation from Chinese authorities on who would meet Binay so the date of the trip could be finalized, Hernandez said.
"We want to ensure that he is able to meet top officials in China who would be appropriate for this issue," Hernandez told AFP.
Binay went on a similar mission in February to China to save three Filipino drug mules from the death row, and secured a temporary stay of execution.
But Beijing went ahead with the executions a month later, triggering widespread condemnation in the Catholic Philippines where capital punishment was abolished in 2006.
Those executions put the spotlight on the country's millions of Filipino overseas workers, some of whom are duped into doing illegal activities in exchange for extra cash to send to their families back home.
