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Pinoy Abroad

Death sentence of Pinoy convict in China promulgated


UPDATED 10:30 a.m. - The death sentence of the Filipino scheduled for execution in China on Thursday was promulgated at around 9:08 a.m. minutes after his relatives talked to him. A report of GMA News TV's "News To Go"  said the relatives were given 10 to 20 minutes to talk to the convict, whose identity was withheld upon the request of his family, at Guilin Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, where the death sentence was read to him. After the meeting with the relatives, the promulgation of the death sentence followed, the report said.
Meanwhile, in a text message, Consul General Raly Tejada told the Office of the Vice President (OVP) that the execution will push through.
 
Tejada said the promulgation of the death sentence finished at around 10:00 a.m and that the execution will follow immediately at Louzhou County, a two-hour drive from the Guilin Municipal Intermediate People’s Court. The "News To Go" report said the execution through lethal injection is expected to take place between 40 minutes to one hour after the promulgation of the sentence.
 
OVP media director Joey Salgado, meanwhile, said the Filipino is now on his way to his place of execution in Luzhou in Guangzi — two hours away from where the death sentence was promulgated. 
 
Tejada added that the Chinese authorities will inform Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is presidential adviser on overseas Filipino worker (OFW) concerns, when the execution has been carried out.
Final blessing According to a source of GMA News, the family— two of the convict’s siblings and two of their cousins —brought with them a priest, who bestowed final blessing to the Filipino.   Earlier, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Raul Hernandez said that “if the execution will push through,” the convict’s remains may be repatriated in four to six days.   His family, meanwhile, will fly back to the Philippines on Saturday.   Hernandez said the 35-year-old convict —arrested in 2008 for carrying 1.495 kilos of heroin to China—is so far the last Filipino scheduled to be executed there.   He also clarified on Wednesday that he “is not an OFW (overseas Filipino worker) in the strict sense of the word.”    “He went to Macau as a tourist, and [also to] Malaysia. He did not have a contract that went through POEA,” he said.   Hernandez said the convict's siblings do not know what their brother does for a living but that he traveled to Macau several times. — with Kim Tan, LBG/VVP, GMA News
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