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Thursday, November 29, 2007
De Castro heads to Kuwait to seek clemency for maid
MANILA –- Vice President Noli de Castro will go to Kuwait in a last-ditch effort to save the life of a Filipino maid sentenced to death for murdering her employer - an emotional issue in a country where 10 percent of the population works abroad.
"If I have to, I would even kneel before the emir (of Kuwait) just to save her life, either through a commutation of sentence or a pardon," de Castro said.
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A Kuwaiti appeals court upheld the death sentence of Marilou Ranario, a 33-year-old teacher who worked in Kuwait as a domestic helper, her lawyer said Tuesday, adding the decision was final.
Ranario was found guilty of fatally stabbing her employer, a woman, in 2005.
Ranario's lawyer said his client suffers from paranoia and claimed the employer had threatened to harm her before the attack. She had told the court that she did not mean to kill the woman.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo instructed de Castro "to immediately go to Kuwait to convey the government's request for clemency," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a statement.
De Castro was expected to travel in the next few days.
Romulo said Arroyo had already spoken with the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, by phone and had written to him asking for clemency. Only the emir can spare Ranario's life.
Arroyo met Ranario's mother in central Cebu City Wednesday, assuring her of "full government support" and payment of "blood money" to the employer's family to win forgiveness, said presidential aide Cerge Remonde.
De Castro's visit to Kuwait underscores the priority the government gives to the welfare of about eight million Filipinos working overseas.
Senate President Manny Villar said he is throwing his full support to government's bid to save Ranario from being hanged in Kuwait.
Villar said he lauds government's move to seek clemency for Ranario from the ruler of Kuwait after the Cassation Court upheld her death sentence.
“With the verdict on Marilou's case, the government of the Philippines should not lose hope and stop trying to save her. While Marilou is still alive, I believe that government assistance should not stop,” he said.
Ranario was a teacher in Surigao del Norte before she went to Kuwait to work as a domestic helper.
Ranario puts a face to the plight of countless other Filipinos who leave the country for better opportunities abroad, said Villar.
He added: "Many of our kababayans (co-Filipinos) choose to swallow the bitter pill of separation from their loved ones in order to ensure a better future for the family."
Filipinos overseas sent home US$10.5 billion (euro7.1 billion) during the first nine months of this year, more than the US$9.1 billion in the same period last year. Philippine remittances amount to about 10 percent of the gross domestic product every year.
Relations between the Philippines and Singapore soured in 1995 when the city-state ignored appeals by Manila to halt the execution of Flor Contemplacion and hanged her for murdering a fellow Filipino maid and a Singaporean boy.
The government of then President Fidel Ramos was sharply criticized for moving too slowly to help Contemplacion amid massive anti-Singapore protests in the Philippines.
In 2004, the Philippines weathered criticisms from the US and other coalition forces when Arroyo ordered the withdrawal of its token peacekeeping contingent from Iraq as part of a deal to save truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, who was seized by militants who threatened to behead him. (AP/With Joan L. Butalid/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (November 29, 2007 issue)
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