THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it is working to bring home the remains of the two Filipinos executed recently in China for drug trafficking.
“Yes, we are working on that,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said in a Viber message.
However, de Vega could not provide the exact date when the remains would be repatriated to Manila.
“It will be soon,” he said.
The two Filipinos, who were not identified, were executed last Nov. 24 but the DFA only announced their execution last Dec. 2.
They were apprehended in 2013 after they were caught with 11 kilos of shabu hidden in a DVD player.
A Chinese court convicted them in 2016.
Last Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said their country’s death penalty applies to everyone who commits crimes that pose great personal danger to society.
The embassy issued the statement after several Filipino lawmakers called for a tit-for-tat treatment for Chinese citizens convicted in the Philippines for drug trafficking.
“Chinese law stipulates that all persons who commit crimes are equal in the application of the law, and no one is allowed to have privileges beyond the law,” the embassy said.
“China’s judiciary treats criminals of different nationalities equally and deals with them in a fair manner and strict accordance with the law,” it added.
“It is applied only to criminals who have committed extremely serious crimes,” the embassy added.
