Three Filipinos are seeking the help from the Philippine government after they had been arrested by the Chinese authorities for bringing in prohibited drugs into Red China.
One of them identified as Sally Ordinario-Villanueva is now awaiting execution for allegedly bringing in a huge amount of illegal drugs into China. Her parents and relatives are now appealing to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to seek reprieve from the Chinese government so that their eldest daughter could be saved from execution. President Aquino had expressed help by sending his Vice President Jejomar Binay to talk with the Chinese government. Reports said the Chinese government at first was hesitant in allowing VP Binay to go to China as manifested by an official communique from the PROC foreign ministry which was shown on ANC’s "The Nation Up Close" hosted by Tony Velasquez and Lynda Jumilla the other night. Eventually, VP Binay was allowed to go and explore the possibility of exhausting all means to save the arrested Filipinos who are now locked up in China.
In the ANC broadcast interview, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colminares said that Congress would initiate a move to hold a public hearing so that legislators can dig deeper into the extent of using innocent overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as drug mules by certain drug syndicates in the Philippines. What is ironical here is that members of the drug syndicates were believed to be Africans, who are in cahoots with sinister Filipino recruiters. Neri added that the appropriate committee will be calling some officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) to shed light on the issue of OFWs being used as drug mules by the syndicates.
How this modus operandi is taking place at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) despite the presence of law enforcement authorities is beyond comprehension at the moment. But Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator Carlos S. Cao Jr. explained that the Aquino administration is doing all it could to keep outbound OFWs safe in their journey. In fact, he said that during the pre-departure meeting, these OFWs are given briefings on the do’s and don’ts of working abroad.
Cao added that if there’s a need to go down to the grassroots level just to explain to the people on the extent of the drug problem in the country, they would do it. He reasoned out that it’s one way of telling the people what to do when the drug syndicates approach them and convinced them to bring some packages out of the country, without their knowing what is inside those packages. The POEA has already stepped up its monitoring of outbound OFWs at the main airport and so with other airports in the country. In fact, there was a new order that requires OFWs to approach the Labor Assistance Center (LAC) so that they could be given their exit clearance. At this instance, perhaps, the law enforcers must use sniffing dogs to track down those who might be carrying illegal drugs in their luggage. In this way, bad consequences on the part of the innocent couriers and the government can be avoided in the future.
I’m sure that if there are sniffing dogs at the airports, these drug couriers will not be able to pass through the check in counters. As to the question of whether they are aware of this illegal activity or not, we never knew. But the possibility that these drug couriers were victimized by their own greed or innocence can only be proven in the courts of law. But the big problem is when they are caught red-handed in China and Singapore where harsh punishments for drug couriers are meted.
Meanwhile, Prof. Rene de Castro of the De La Salle University’s International Studies Department, cited that dealing with the Chinese authorities must be done with caution so as not to embarrass them. He explained that the present brouhaha on whether the Aquino administration should exhaust all means to seek the release of those Filipinos who are facing possible execution in China must have been done through the back-door channel, rather than allow the media to first feast on the sensitive issue.
Prof. de Castro said that there is a great difference between the two countries’ legal system. While it is true that criminal suspects in the Philippines can still make an appeal for their cases up to the Supreme Court, it cannot be done under a socialist system like China. But the Chinese authorities change of mind by allowing VP Binay, along with the parents of Sally Ordinario, to travel to China could be a blessing in disguise. With Jason Ordinario’s, brother of Sally, new testimonies in the Chinese courts, the Philippine government is praying that the scheduled execution of Sally and other suspected drug mules, who are now languishing in Chinese jails, could be suspended.
Hearing the complaints of the Ordinarios (parents) as interviewed by ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Ces Drillon, the case of Sally Ordinario should have been prevented had the law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) had attended to the complaints of Sally’s parents.
Unexpectedly, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, under Maj. Villegas, was prompt in orchestrating a plan to swoop down on the drug syndicates which led to their arrests.
This is not the first time that China had executed those who violated its established anti-drug laws. In the past, suspected drug couriers from rich countries who were caught at the port of entry in China had been executed after the courts had found them guilty under a socialist system.
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