TWO Filipinos convicted for drug trafficking have been executed in China, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Saturday.
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 and convicted in 2016.
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 is 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.
