Filipino Joselito Lidasan Zapanta murder convict executed in Saudi Arabia

AP
Manila - A Filipino murder convict was publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after failing to meet the demand of the Sudanese victim's family for payment of $1 million to save him from the death penalty, officials said.

Joselito Lidasan Zapanta's execution was carried out after his family and the Philippine government managed to raise only 23 million pesos ($488,000), said Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

The victim's family refused to sign an affidavit of forgiveness that would have spared Zapanta the death penalty unless it was paid 48 million pesos ($1 million), setting a two-week deadline earlier this month for payment, Jose said.

Zapanta, a 35-year-old tile-setter, was convicted of murder and robbery by a Riyadh court in 2010.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the government ``has undertaken and exhausted all diplomatic and legal efforts, and extended consular and legal assistance to preserve the life of Mr. Zapanta.''

The plight of Filipino workers overseas is a sensitive issue in the Philippines. About a tenth of the country's 100 million people work abroad, including around 2.2 million in Saudi Arabia.

Jose said that 79 Filipinos are on death row in various countries, including 41 in Malaysia and 27 in Saudi Arabia.

Filippine: incendio in carcere nella provincia di Leyte, morti 10 detenuti

Rainews.it
Almeno 10 detenuti sarebbero morti a causa di un incendio scoppiato in un carcere di massima sicurezza nella provincia di Leyte. A provocare l'incidente, fanno sapere le autorità, un cortocircuito del sistema elettrico. 

Così circa 1200 detenuti dovranno essere trasferiti in alloggi di emergenza. Secondo il Centro Internazionale di Studi della prigione, l'episodio evidenzia, ancora una volta, le difficoltà del sistema carcerario filippino, al quarto posto nella classifica mondiale per il sovraffollamento.

Philippines - President Aquino remains cold to proposals to reimpose death penalty

Headlines
Manila, Philippines - President Aquino remains cold to proposals to reimpose death penalty amid efforts in the Senate to start the debates on the issue.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Aquino continues to have reservations against death penalty because of his concerns on the judicial system.

“During the campaign, he (Aquino) mentioned that death penalty assumes that our judicial system is good. But we know for a fact that in our judicial system, in our judicial framework, sometimes those with weak legal representation are prejudiced,” Lacierda said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

“To the best of my knowledge, that position remains the same. There were no discussions after that,” he added.

Lacierda noted that any wrong judgment on a case involving death penalty would be irreversible.

“He’s looking at the entire judicial framework, how we can improve judicial framework ensuring that the judgment that would be made will be right, fair, and just,” he said.

Earlier, Sen. Vicente Sotto III reiterated the need to restore the death penalty following the killing of the mother of actress Cherry Pie Picache in Quezon City last week. Senate President Franklin Drilon said the debates on the death penalty should start to determine if it can solve criminality in the country.

The death penalty was abolished in 1987 during the time of President Corazon Aquino, but it was revived in 1993 under the administration of President Fidel Ramos.

Among the crimes that were punishable by death were murder, rape, kidnapping and drug trafficking.

In 2001, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo imposed a moratorium on death penalty but lifted it two years following a series of murders and kidnappings.

She, however, did not sign any execution order and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment.

In 2006, Arroyo signed a law abolishing death penalty, believing that state resources should be used in controlling crime instead of taking the lives of criminals.

Alexis Romero