DFA: 2 Pinoys executed in China for drug trafficking

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday announced that two Filipinos convicted for drug trafficking offenses in China were executed.

In a statement, the DFA said the two Filipinos were executed on November 24, 2023, as confirmed by the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou.

“We offer our most sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. We respect the wishes of their families for privacy, and as such are withholding the identities of the two Filipinos,” the Foreign Affairs Department said.

“The Department likewise, deferred from immediately announcing this sad development pending receipt from the Chinese side of the formal notification of their execution,” it added.

The DFA said the two executed Filipinos were arrested in 2013 after they were caught with 11 kilos of shabu hidden in a DVD player.

They were convicted in 2016.

DFA officials recently accompanied the relatives of the two convicted Filipinos who went to China for a "compassionate visit" of their loved ones.

The department provided all possible assistance, including legal assistance funding, through the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou and the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs from their arrest until the Chinese court’s judgment.

“The Government of the Republic of the Philippines further exhausted all measures available to appeal to the relevant authorities of the People’s Republic of China to commute their sentences to life imprisonment on humanitarian grounds. There were also high-level political representations in this regard,” the DFA said.

“Our repeated appeals were consistent with the laws and values of our nation, which put the highest premium on human life. In the end, the Chinese government, citing their internal laws, upheld the conviction, and the Philippines must respect China’s criminal laws and legal processes,” it said.

There are 92 Filipino death penalty cases in China. Of the 92, all but one are drug related cases.  

Out of the 92 cases: two cases were commuted to life imprisonment; 86 cases were reduced to a fixed term, and four were pending death penalty cases.  

With these 2 executions, there remain 2 death penalty cases pending final review or on appeal.

Be vigilant vs drug syndicates

The DFA also encouraged Filipinos traveling abroad to be vigilant against drug syndicates that recruit “unwitting travelers as drug mules, and to refuse to carry any package that you have not personally packed and thoroughly inspected.”

“While the Philippine government will continue to exhaust all possible avenues to assist our overseas nationals, ultimately it is the laws and sovereign decisions of foreign countries and not the Philippines which will prevail in these cases,” it said.

The DFA said the government, while saddened by the execution of two Filipinos, would continue its relentless efforts to rid the country of drug syndicates that prey on the vulnerable, including those seeking better lives for themselves and their families.

“Illegal drugs trade remains a scourge that we as a nation must confront. Drug syndicates claim as their victims not only drug addicts, but Filipinos whose socio-economic conditions render them vulnerable to the lure of these criminals,” it said. — Michaela del Callar/DVM, GMA Integrated News