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Two distinct government responses are being made to
save the life of
Filipina domestic helper May Vecina, whose death conviction was
affirmed by the Kuwait Cassation Court on Tuesday.
“If it is necessary and the
President ordered me to talk to the Emir, I will go to Kuwait
immediately [to intercede to save Vecina’s life],” said
Vice-President Noli de Castro, who is also presidential adviser on
overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez,
meanwhile, said OFWs should pay for the blood money to save
Vecina’s life, referring to the P30 million that may be needed to
compensate the victim’s family and obtain their pardon.
“I suggested to the
Vice-President to make an appeal to other OFWs in the Middle East if
they can contribute something to help their fellow OFW in trouble
because the solution there is blood money,” he said.
Gonzalez said the government is
doing everything it can through diplomatic means, but pointed out
that even if it is still uncertain if the aggrieved family will
pardon Vecina, it is best that the blood money is already prepared.
Vecina was sentenced to die for
killing her 6-year-old ward on January 2007. The decision was
appealed, but the Kuwait Court of Cassation (the emirate’s supreme
court) affirmed the sentence.
De Castro defended efforts made
by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila and denied government
was slow to act on Vecina’s case.
“It’s not slow. We’re not
the one who dictates the process. It’s the government of
Kuwait,” he said.
He recalled that during the trial
of her case, Vecina was represented by a three-man defense panel
created by the Philippine government.
The Foreign Affairs department is
exerting diplomatic efforts to get Vecina’s sentence commuted to
life imprisonment, trying to obtain letters of forgiveness from the
victim’s family and persuade the Emir to commute her sentence to
life.
Kuwait’s emir has two months
within which to sign Vecina’s execution order.
The Vice-President said officials
at Foreign Affairs hope for the best for the Filipino OFW. He
recalled the case of Marilou Ranario, another Filipino domestic
helper whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after
President Gloria Arroyo personally appealed her case to the Emir in
December 2007.
--Katrice R. Jalbuena, William B. Depasupil And
Angelo S. Samonte
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