Dire warning

The execution by lethal injection of the 35-year-old Filipino man in China last Dec. 8 should serve as a dire warning to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who, knowingly or unknowingly, act as “drug mules” for drug syndicates. After all, that was the fourth of such executions in China this year, which involved Filipinos.

Last February, three other OFWs were executed for the same crime. The message should now be clear: should you get caught, there really isn’t much the Philippine government can do to get you off the death row, save what everybody else can do, which is pray.

The Department of Foreign Affairs’ appeals for mercy for convicted Filipino drug mules in China have thus far proven futile. President Aquino himself, in a separate act, sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao asking for a commutation of the death sentence, but it didn’t change anything. “We take that as a decision from them that the sentence was final and it was actually carried out today,” said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

Still, the question persists as to whether or not the Filipino government should even lend a hand to save convicted Filipino drug traffickers abroad. Yes, it is sad and tragic that fellow Filipinos were executed for crimes related to trafficking of illegal drugs. But, unfortunately, some argue that they brought it upon themselves and that, therefore, they deserved it. They were caught carrying illegal drugs and so they had to be treated in accordance with what the law dictates. Their cases have gone through the required judicial process and, after due trial and deliberation, they were found guilty and sentenced to death. They would have escaped death had they been caught in the Philippines where the death penalty has been abolished. But the death penalty still applies in China – as well as in many other territories.

It should be obvious that the DFA can devote only so much of its limited resources to saving Filipinos convicted of drug-related crimes abroad. Indeed, it would be wiser and more practical for the DFA to study the cases of those Filipinos convicted abroad and decide which of these deserve to be appealed. Asking foreign governments to change their courts’ verdicts or sentences is a tricky proposition. Each country has the right to prosecute, convict, incarcerate and, if its laws permit, even execute those violating its laws within its jurisdiction. And drug laws are among the strictest and more merciless in the world, but especially in China.

The DFA must get involved in such cases – the earlier, the better – and providing help during the trial may prove to be more effective than asking for clemency after the suspects have been sentenced to death. But to do this, it should come up with an accurate and detailed database of all the cases involving Filipinos abroad and research carefully what can be done to help them in whatever state their cases may be. This, of course, will entail a lot of work, particularly in China, where reportedly there are at present about 205 drug trafficking cases being prosecuted against Filipinos. For the bigger picture, the DFA estimated that, as of December 2009, around 7,200 Filipinos were in jail in over 60 countries, and more than 500 of them were facing the death penalty.

Government has already begun clamping down on drug syndicates by increasing security at the airports. In Congress, Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello and Rep. Kaka Bag-ao have filed House Resolution 1979 which demands that the government increase pressure on and go after local and international drug syndicates which are using OFWs as drug mules.

To be sure, the work must start here at home. And the DFA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration must also warn both aspiring and back-to-work OFWs of the dire consequences of getting involved with drug syndicates. Every outgoing OFW, for example, should be informed of the techniques and situations used by the drug runners to trap them into a life of drug trafficking.

Of course, it is for the OFWs to say no to the victimization. “We have always been telling the public and those who are traveling to work abroad not to be used as drug mules,” Lacierda said. Yes, the OFWs are the first in line to prevent their victimization.

Also, they should be told that the DFA cannot save every convicted Filipino – no matter how much it tries. The Philippine government can try mightily to save them from death, but simply because they are Filipinos doesn’t mean they are innocent.