Palace asks for prayers for 3 Pinoys on death row

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is appealing for prayers for the three Filipinos facing execution in China for drug trafficking, saying “we have the right to hope” until their sentences are carried out.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said over government-run radio dzRB that they were still communicating with the Chinese foreign ministry but stressed there were limits to what the Philippine government could do. He said they were still hoping for a last-minute change of heart by China.

Vice President Jejomar Binay is leading government’s last-ditch efforts to save Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain from execution.

Binay also made an appeal for prayers.

“Let us pray for another miracle, that the lives of our kababayans will be spared. Let us not lose hope,” Binay said. Binay is the presidential adviser on OFWs concerns.

“On humanitarian grounds and on the basis of the strong friendship and cooperation between our two countries and peoples, I once again appeal to Your Excellency to grant clemency to these three Filipinos,” Binay wrote to President Hu Jintao.

Binay said Item No. 30 of Chapter 4 of the “Notice of the Supreme People’s Court on issuing Some Advice on Implementing the Criminal Policy of Combining Leniency with Rigidity” allows more lenient treatment of accused who had played minor roles in drug crimes.

“We will still ask the Chinese government to grant our three countrymen clemency. But we have to understand that the Chinese government is very strict in the implementation of their own laws,” Binay said after meeting relatives of Batain.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said in an ambush interview in Silang, Cavite that the President welcomed any move that the Vice President feels he needs to take to stay the hand the hand of the executioner.

Carandang was with the President in Cavite for the Philippine National Police Academy graduation rites.

“Remember that the Chinese have asked the Filipino people for understanding and that they’ve said that the decision is final,” Carandang said.

“We would be very happy if that decision will be reversed, but at this point, they have made it very clear that the decision is final,” he said.

Lacierda said concerned government agencies would be assisting the three Filipinos as well as their families.

The Department of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that the Chinese government would execute the three on March 30, or a month after Beijing agreed to stay their executions following Binay’s visit to appeal their case. 

Meanwhile, in Lingayen, Pangasinan, Board Member Ranjit Shahani said they would also appeal for the commutation of the death sentence of the three. 

Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. had earlier sent a letter to the Chinese president pleading for a stay in the execution of the three Filipinos.

One of the three convicts, Ordinario-Villanueva, is from Umingan town in Pangasinan.

Espino has also set up an OFW Desk to help constituents working overseas.

“This just shows that the provincial government under Gov. Espino is becoming more active in global events where Pangasinenses as well as other Filipinos are affected,” Shahani said.

“Hopefully at least it shows the concern of the provincial government and the humanitarian nature of Gov. Espino,” Shahani added. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, Eva Visperas