3 Pinoys executed in China

03/30/2011 - Vice President Jejomar Binay confirmed Wednesday the three Filipino drug convicts were executed in China.

Binay, in a television interview, said that Sally Ordinario, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain had undergone lethal injection before Wednesday noon.

Credo and Ordinario-Villanueva were executed in Xiamen while Batain in Shenzhen.

No other details were available as of this posting.

Meanwhile, in a statement of Presidential Edwin Lacierda read by deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, the Philippine government expressed sympathies to the families of the three Filipino drug mules, noting the incident should serve as a lesson to every overseas Filipino worker to be vigilant and not let themselves be victimized by illegal drug trafficking.

"Our government had taken every available opportunity to appeal to the authorities of China for clemency in their cases, to which the Chinese government responded with a postponement of the execution. In the end, however, the sentence was imposed," the statement said.

"The nation sympathized with the families of the condemned, sharing their sense of looming loss. We sympathize with these families now. Their deaths are a vivid lesson in the tragic toll the drug trade takes on entire families."

"We are resolved to ensure that the chain of victimization, as pushers entrap and destroy lives in pursuit of their trade, will be broken. Those who traffic in illegal drugs respect no laws, no boundaries, and have no scruples about destroying lives. Our response must be relentless, with the government and the citizenry working together must be relentless, with government and citizenry working together to ensure vigilance and mutual support to prevent our countrymen from being used by drug pushers as sacrificial pawns, whether at home or abroad," it added.

Valte said the government will be giving assistance to the families of the three.

Ramon Credo, 42, was arrested at the Gaoji International Airport in Xiamen for carrying 4,113 grams of heroin; Elizabeth Batain, 38, was apprehended at the Shenzhen Airport with 6,800 grams of the same substance; and Sally Villanueva, 32, was nabbed for carrying some 4,410 grams of the prohibited substance.

The three were previously scheduled to be executed on February 20 and 21 but was eventually postponed after Vice President Binay made a personal appeal to the Chinese government last February 18. (Sun Star)