Bishops express sorrow for Filipina executed in Kuwait
The woman, who maintained her innocence, was executed along with six other people. Duterte wants to reintroduce the death penalty in the Philippines right away. For Bishops' Conference, “death should make us all advocates against the death penalty.”
Manila (AsiaNews/CBCPNews) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) expressed their sorrow for the recent execution of a Filipino migrant worker. It added that this should serve as a clear message for Filipinos to reject the capital punishment, which was abolished in 2006.
Jakatia Pawa was hanged in Kuwait on Wednesday. Six other people, including a member of the country’s royal family, were also executed.
The three women and four men are the first to be executed in the oil-rich Gulf state since 2013, when a moratorium on the death penalty ended.
The dead include two Kuwaitis, two Egyptians and one each from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Ethiopia, a statement by the public prosecution office said.
Jakatia Pawa and the Ethiopian woman were domestic helpers convicted of murdering members of their employers' families in two unrelated crimes.
Around 240,000 Filipinos are working and living in Kuwait, many of them employed as domestic helpers.
Philippines presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the presidential palace was saddened by the Jakatia Pawa’s execution. He added that the Filipino government had done everything to save her, including providing legal assistance to ensure that her rights were respected and all legal procedures were followed.
The CBCP expressed sorrow over Jakatia Pawa’s execution, adding that it should serve as a warning to Filipinos to reject capital punishment.
“The CBCP condoles most sincerely with the family of the late Jakatia Pawa, our fellow Filipino, who was executed in Kuwait,” said Mgr Socrates Villegas, CBCP President and archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan.
“The fact that Jakatia protested her innocence to the end of her life only underscores the abhorrence at the death penalty and the sadness that we feel at Jakatia’s death should make us all advocates against the death penalty,” he added.
In 2007, Pawa was accused of killing the 22-year old daughter of her employer. Until the end, she maintained her innocence, saying that she had no motive to kill the young woman.
“It is sad and depressing news. A life was lost. A dream was shattered. Whatever region or religion, she is a Filipina. She is one of us. And we are affected,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos, who chairs the CBCP’s Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People.
For him, restoring the death penalty in the country puts overseas Filipino workers on death row abroad at risk.
Last September President Duterte said he wanted to reintroduce capital punishment, sparking a hated debate among Filipinos. The proposal is now before the Filipino Congress and its approval seems imminent.
“The government should not push through with [the] death penalty. If there will be penalty in our country, we will lose any moral authority and legality to ask clemency for our Filipinos who are sentenced to death,” Santos said.
The prelate also called on the Duterte administration to provide assistance to other overseas Filipino workers facing execution.
Some “are still [. . .] imprisoned. [The] Government should not be complacent, nor rely on [the] last two minutes. They have to act, decisively and swiftly, for those who are incarcerated,” he added.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), some 88 Filipinos are on death row overseas.
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