Binay confirms 3 Filipinos were executed in China

Vice President Jejomar Binay confirmed that the three Filipinos found guilty of drug trafficking were  executed in China on Wednesday.

"I just want to inform you that our three compatriots have been executed," Binay told ABS-CBN television, citing information from the Philippine foreign affairs ministry.

In a statement, the Philippine government said that it has done everything in its power to stop the executions.

"We have been informed that Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain were administered lethal injections to carry out the sentence imposed by the courts of the People’s Republic of China this morning," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

"Our government had taken every available opportunity to appeal to the authorities of China for clemency in their cases, to which the Chinese government responded with a postponement of the execution. In the end, however, the sentence was imposed.

"The nation sympathized with the families of the condemned, sharing their sense of looming loss. We sympathize with these families now. Their deaths are a vivid lesson in the tragic toll the drug trade takes on entire families," she added.

The government spokesperson said that government will "ensure that the chain of victimization, as pushers entrap and destroy lives in pursuit of their trade, will be broken."

"Those who traffic in illegal drugs respect no laws, no boundaries, and have no scruples about destroying lives. Our response must be relentless, with government and the citizenry working together to ensure vigilance and mutual support to prevent our countrymen from being used by drug pushers as sacrificial pawns, whether at home or abroad," the spokesperson added.

With additional reports from Agence France Presse