By Liezelle Soriano
MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs said that two Filipino nationals were executed in China for drug trafficking offenses.
The DFA said on Saturday that it was confirmed by the Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou.
“We offer our most sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. Out of deference to their wishes, we deferred from announcing this sad development immediately and are withholding the identities of the two Filipinos,” DFA said.
The department said that it 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 the time the two Filipinos were arrested.
It added that the Philippine government 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 government likewise provided every possible assistance to the families of the two Filipinos, DFA said.
The agency added that the two executed Filipinos were arrested in 2013 after they were caught with 11 kilos of shabu hidden in a DVD player.
They were convicted in 2016.
DFA officials recently accompanied the relatives of the two convicted Filipinos who went to China for a “compassionate visit” of their loved ones.
(AI/MNM)