Articles claiming that three Filipino prisoners in PH were sentenced to death in retribution for nabbing Chinese drug lords in the Philippines have been shared online. This one article was posted on a blog bearing President Rodrigo Duterte’s famous moniker, DU30, and showcasing content about Duterte and his family.
The article title says, “3 Pinoy Bibitayin sa China Bilang Ganti sa Paghuli Ng Mga Chinese Druglord Dito Sa Pilipinas.”
It makes it seem as though the Filipino prisoners were still to be executed in China and the article was obviously posted on July 2016, based on the URL.
The accompanying article claims that two women and one man were sentenced to die by the Chinese Supreme People Court (SPC) in China, as reported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. DFA did not name the Filipino prisoners, but gave details that they were all caught with carrying heroin in 2008.
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However, the video used in the blog showed that the said Filipino prisoners in China were already executed and their families were left grieving after their death. The clip also revealed the prisoners to be Sally Villanueva, Elizabeth Batain, and Ramon Credo.
But if you look these three names up on Google, these three Filipinos were executed in the morning of March 30, 2011 in China, according to this ABS-CBN report.
This alone is enough to discredit the above blog’s claim that three Filipinos were about to be subjected to the death penalty as China’s way to retaliate for Filipinos imprisoning Chinese drug lords.
But another proof just how ludicrous the blog’s claim is that even the Chinese embassy released a statement about its firm stance against illegal drugs.
“Illicit drugs are common enemy of the mankind. Fighting against all drug-related crimes is shared responsibility of all countries in the world,” said Chinese embassy spokesperson Li Lingxao.
This statement came after a Chinese woman was nabbed at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport for carrying P6-million worth of shabu on July 20.
The embassy added, “President Rodrigo Duterte has taken it as a top priority in cracking down drug-related crimes. China has expressed explicitly to the new administration China’s willingness for effective cooperation in this regard, and would like to work out a specific plan of action with the Philippine side.”
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3 Chinese drug lords to be sentenced to death in PH?
As if that recycled story about the execution of three Filipinos in China wasn’t enough, another blog has come out with what seem like the opposite version, wherein this time, Chinese drug lords are the ones sentenced to die as retribution for those Filipinos’ death.
The title says, “3 Chinese Druglords Bibitayin Sa Pilipinas Bilang Ganti sa 3 Pinoy Na Binitay sa China!”
Even those who commented on the Facebook post sharing the article noticed just how wrong the title is if the death penalty was given as an act of retribution, not as mandated by the law.
This is not the first time that blogs and netizens claimed of wielding death penalty to punish criminals. Meme Buster busted an article about Duterte approving death penalty, when the bill for the capital punishment was yet to be filed.
The death penalty is currently abolished in the Philippines, with the last two to be executed being rapists Leo Echegaray and Alex Bartolome in 1999 and 2000, respectively, during former President Joseph Estrada’s administration. However, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed RA 9346, abolishing the death penalty, in 2006, a few days before her visit to the Vatican and then Pope Benedict XVI.
However, Duterte’s administration has been pushing for the reinstatement of the death penalty to fight heinous crimes and drugs. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that Malacañang hopes that the election of Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. as Senate President and Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as House Speaker of the 17th Congress, will “expeditiously” address Duterte’s priority bills, including the death penalty.
Senator Leila de Lima, however, said that she will file a qualified reclusion perpetua bill, which she dubbed as an ‘antidote’ to the death penalty, as Rappler reported. Despite the hard work in store for her in the fight to stop the reimposition of the death penalty, the senator said that she will ask for help from other anti-death penalty advocates in the Philippines and abroad.
No matter how many articles the blogs post about death penalty for this or that prisoner, it does not erase the fact that the Philippines is currently not imposing death penalty. There is absolutely no truth to Chinese drug lords being currently sentenced to death in the Philippines to retaliate against China and that report about Filipino executions in China was a recycled one from 2011. But with the Duterte administration’s determination to push for death penalty, these netizens who are always keen on sharing false reports about the capital punishment might just get what they want in the years to come.
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