Execution of Three Filipinos in China, Reminiscent of Flor Contemplacion’s Death

Execution of Three Filipinos in China, Reminiscent of Flor Contemplacion’s Death

“It is the government’s policy to provide legal counsel only at the tail end of the case. It is like waiting for an illness to turn into cancer before being treated.” – Migrante International
By ERIKA CALEJA and JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Rose Zapanta could barely breathe when she learned of the death of the three Filipinos who were recently executed in China. She reached out to her mother Mona, who was crying at her side. Both of them are not acquainted with the three Filipinos nor their relatives. But they felt the anguish and the pain that the loved ones of the deceased are going through because Rose’s brother Joselito, was also meted with the death penalty.

Joselito was sentenced to die in Saudi Arabia after he ended up killing his Sudanese landlord who went to his work site on March 26, 2009 to ask for his payment for the house rent even if it was not yet due. The argument turned into a fight, and, to defend himself, Joselito hit his landlord with a hammer.

In Manila, Joselito’s family asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to keep them updated regarding Joselito’s case. In a previous interview with Mona, she said that they frequented the DFA’s office in Pasay City just to ask for updates on the case. They could not rely on telephone calls, she said, because “either the phone line was busy or would keep on ringing. Sometimes, when an official from DFA answers the phone, he would shout at us then end the call abruptly.”

Today, Rose told Bulatlat.com in a telephone interview that their family have sold most of their belongings such as their television set, electric fan, cellphone, bike, DVD player and even their cooking pots just to have money for their parent’s fare commuting from Mexico, Pampanga to the DFA’s office in Pasay City just to ask for updates on Joselito’s case because the government agency does not exert any effort to reach out to them.

Rose said their family is dismayed about how the DFA is handling his brother’s case. And when the three Filipinos were recently executed in China, she could not help but worry, “not only for my brother but for many others who are also sentenced to die. What does the future hold for them if the government will continue what they are doing?”

The government, she said, should learn an important lesson from these deaths and, hopefully, no Filipino would have to go through the same fate that Sally Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain had. They were arrested separately in China in 2008 carrying 4,410 grams, 4,113 grams and 6,800 grams of heroin, respectively. The three were charged with violating Article No. 347 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, a crime punishable by death. And on March 29, the three were executed.

Committing the Same Mistake Over and Over Again 

For Migrante International, on the other hand, the execution of the three Filipinos in China is not the first time that the government should have learned a lesson about the hazards of intensifying its labor export policy. From a supposed temporary solution to the unemployment situation more than three decades ago, it has become a continuing policy not only to address the worsening unemployment in the country but also to keep the economy afloat through the billions of dollars in remittances from over 4,500 overseas Filipino workers (including undocumented workers) leaving the country everyday. Thus, the government does not feel the urgency anymore of generating local jobs with decent pay, which could have been the long-term solution to the unemployment situation in the country...... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/04/15/execution-of-three-filipinos-in-china-reminiscent-of-flor-contemplacion%E2%80%99s-death/