Will we ever learn?
| SHE SAYS |
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| Dinah S. Ventura |
Whenever we hear about fellow Filipinos getting convicted for crimes elsewhere in the world, it seems the whole country erupts in dismay. Government representatives rush over to try to help them, their families are sought for reactions, and virtual strangers stop to comment on how such a horrifying fate could befall a kababayan.
When we think of overseas Filipino workers, what comes to mind are the millions of brave Pinoys who venture out of the country to find better-paying jobs — any job. Although not all OFWs are driven out by poverty or dire need, it is true that a significant portion sacrifice plenty for a chance at a better life — if not for themselves, then for their children.
The relatively recent spate of news about “drug mules” — or that new way international drug syndicates have found to bring their illegal wares to different parts of the world — has shocked many of us. It was that story of a former OFW, who managed to escape the clutches of an international syndicate that wanted him to swallow a number of small tubes containing drugs so that he could “carry” it to their destination of choice, that opened our eyes to the danger and risk some unfortunate Pinoys had succumbed to.
And when news came out of the three OFWs in China sentenced to die by lethal injection, two supposedly today and one tomorrow, the reality of this evil cycle has left us bereft of the usual words. The three Pinoys — one man in his early 40s and two women in their 30s — had been caught with huge amounts of heroin in their possession at different airports in China on different occasions. The three were convicted separately in 2008, underwent an appeal process in 2009, but were finally meted the death sentence last year by the Supreme People’s Court of China. The Aquino government has been trying to save these OFWs’ lives since August last year, hoping that China would “soften its stand” because, after all, our country has not executed any of the Chinese nationalities that had been linked with drug trafficking here..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110221com7.html
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