DFA Exhausting Legal Remedies to Save Pinay on Death Row
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is exhausting all legal remedies under Indonesian law to save the life of a Filipina convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia.
DFA spokesman Charles Jose said at present they are awaiting the requested judicial review of the case of the Filipina. The DFA had filed an application to review the woman’s death sentence was filed at a district court near Yogyakarta.
The DFA has also been in touch with the Filipina’s family and are constantly updating them on the case.
The Filipina is one of several foreign nationals on death row in Indonesia for drugs charges.
She is facing death by firing squad for drug smuggling.
The DFA had earlier said the woman, whose was not identified, was arrested at Yogyakarta airport in April 2010. She was found to have been carrying 2.6 kilos of heroin on a flight from Malaysia.
Earlier on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Indonesia of the potential for diplomatic fallout if Jakarta goes ahead with the looming execution of two Australian citizens on death row.
Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. Five foreigners were among six people executed last month, the first executions since President Joko Widodo took office in October.
Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two Australian members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.
The two will be moved this week from prison in Bali to a maximum security prison at Nusakambangan Island in central Java, where the execution by firing squad is expected to take place, said Momock Bambang Samiarso, head of Bali’s provincial prosecutors’ office.
The case has enormous resonance as a domestic political issue in Australia, and Abbott ratcheted up the rhetoric at the weekend amid a growing campaign to boycott travel to Bali, a destination favoured by Australian tourists.
In Sydney, more than 150,000 people signed a petition for clemency. A growing boycott on social media has seen Australians use the Twitter hashtag #BoycottBali to announce the cancellation of holiday plans.
International pressure is also mounting, with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon making an appeal last week.