Filipino officials say the two women and one man — including a 32-year-old mother of two and a 42-year-old father of five — were paid to take packages to China that they thought were legal cargo such as office supplies but which actually contained hidden heroin.
China says the three defendants were duly convicted under a rigorous judicial process.
“I don’t want to speculate,” Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay said shortly after his arrival in Beijing. He is scheduled to meet Friday with Chinese officials but said he had not yet heard the full itinerary. The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department has said he will meet the president of China’s Supreme People’s Court and the Chinese executive vice foreign minister.
Relatives of the three Filipinos are expected to depart Saturday for China, officials said.
Binay earlier thanked the Chinese government for “accommodating our request to make this last plea” in behalf of the Filipinos, whom he said were “merely victims of international drug syndicates.” “I carry with me the prayers of the Filipino people that clemency could be granted on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the matter was an independent criminal case and China hoped that the Philippines would keep in mind “the overall interest of bilateral relations.” The three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages each containing more than four and six kilograms (more than eight and 13 pounds) of heroin. They were convicted and sentenced in 2009.
China’s highest court last week affirmed the court decisions, the foreign affairs department said.
Since 2006, more than 200 Filipinos have faced drug cases in China. These three would be the first Filipinos executed in China for drug trafficking.
Two are scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday in Xiamen, and one Tuesday in Shenzhen.
