Filipinos pray for miracle to save trio in China

MANILA – Prayer vigils in the Catholic Philippines were to be held Tuesday in the hope of a “miracle” to save three Filipinos scheduled to be executed in China, a support group for their families said.

Convicted drug traffickers Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batin, 38, are due to be put to death on Wednesday after Chinese authorities rejected Philippine government appeals for clemency.

In December, the Philippines skipped the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo for jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in a move President Benigno Aquino said was aimed at saving condemned Filipinos in China.

Vice President Jejomar Binay went to China last month in a last-ditch bid to save them.

But after Chinese authorities last week announced the date of the trio’s executions, the Philippine government said it had done all it could and would accept the decision.
Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, a support group for Filipino overseas workers which has been helping the condemned trio’s families, said: “We will not lose hope. Until they are executed, there is hope.”

“From a legal standpoint, their chances are small. But we are praying for a miracle for them.”

Martinez noted that in 2007 a Filipina maid who was to be executed in Kuwait was granted a pardon on the eve of her execution.

He said Migrante members were to meet at the homes of the three Filipinos from 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) Tuesday to begin an overnight vigil and lend moral support to their relatives.
It said other activities, including special masses, around the Philippine capital of Manila were to begin in the afternoon.

The Philippine government had insisted that the three, who are among 227 Filipinos jailed in China for drug offences, were from poor families and were duped by international crime syndicates into becoming drug couriers.

Their impending executions have put the spotlight on the plight of the more than nine million Filipino workers abroad, many of them toiling in harsh conditions as labourers and maids.