59 Pinoys facing death penalty abroad — DFA

A total of 59 Filipino workers are facing death penalty in various countries, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said yesterday.

DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the cases of the Filipinos involve several offenses such as rape, drug smuggling and homicide and are pending in China, Malaysia, Kuwait, Brunei, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Conejos said the cases are in different stages, but in the event of conviction the maximum penalty is death.

He, however, assured the government continues to exert efforts to save the Filipinos from being executed.

Since January 2006, there were a total of 87 death penalty cases, but the government was able to ask commutation of 28 sentences from death to life imprisonment, Conejos said. Of the 28 commuted sentences, 12 Filipinos were able to return to the Philippines.

Ten cases of Filipinos who allegedly committed crimes punishable by death, are still on preliminary investigation, while 49 are pending in courts.

Thirty-nine of these cases involved drug-related offenses and many of them are in China, Conejos said.

“In China they have what they call suspended cases wherein the implementation of execution is suspended for two years so that in the event the detainee behaves properly in jail, it is commuted to life sentence. This allows them to credit good behavior in prison,” Conejos said.

The last Filipino to be executed was Jenifer Bidoya, alias Venancio Ladion, a Filipino worker in Saudi Arabia who was beheaded in October last year for the murder of a Saudi.

Bidoya was sentenced to die by beheading by the Jeddah Sharia’s Grand Courth in April 2007 for killing a Saudi national guard in 2005.

The death sentence was affirmed by the Tameez Court or Appellate Court and the Supreme Judicial Council on April 21, 2008 despite appeals by the Philippine government before the Saudi King, the Emir of Makkah, the governor of Jeddah and the Minister of Interior.

Amid these efforts, the victim’s family was adamant in refusing to forgive Bidoya and insisted on the imposition of death penalty. Under the Sharia’h Law, the crime of murder results in a public and private liability.

While the King of Saudi Arabia can forgive the public rights aspect of the case, he cannot extend clemency if the victim’s family will deny forgiveness to the accused.

Despite this, Conejos said the government will continue to ask for affidavits of forgiveness or “tanazuls” from the families of the victims for the remaining overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on death row in the Middle East, while representations before host governments in other countries are being made to commute the sentences of the OFWs. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune