Convicted Pinay's fate in Kuwait known Nov 27, not Dec 27 - DFA
The fate of convicted Filipino domestic helper Marilou Ranario in Kuwait will be known on Nov. 27, not Dec. 27 as inadvertently announced earlier, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.
Kuwait’s Cessation Court will hand down its decision on Tuesday next week on the appeal for clemency of Ranario, a 35-year-old Filipina domestic helper from Surigao del Norte who had been convicted for killing her employer in January 2005.Ranario, a mother of two, left a teaching job in the Philippines in 2003 to work as a domestic helper in Kuwait.
Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo M. Endaya reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday last week that Kuwait's 11-member Court of Cassation heard oral arguments on Ranario’s appeal on Nov. 13.
Two highly respected Kuwaiti defense lawyers --Ahmad Qurban and Abdel Majid Khuraibet -- argued Ranario's case at the instance of the Philippine government.
The court has set the promulgation of its decision for Dec. 27, 2007, Endaya said.But in a text message Wednesday, DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal issued a clarification that the court will promulgate its decision on Nov. 27.The militant Migrante International quickly lambasted the DFA for allegedly "concealing" the information from Ranario's family.
"This is incredibly distressing news, especially since the DFA did not even have the temerity to contact Marilou's family about either the December or November verdict dates. Either they are guilty of deliberately concealing this information or they are just incredibly inept," said Lian Santos, deputy secretary general of Migrante in a news conference in Quezon City.
She said Ranario's father and Migrante leaders were told of the Nov. 27 verdict date by the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs executive director Cresente Relacion last Monday when they held a picket at the DFA premises.Ranario was charged for the murder of her Kuwaiti employer Najat Mahmoud Faraj Mobarak on January 11, 2005.
Kuwait’s Court of First Instance sentenced her to die by hanging eight months later. The Court of Appeals upheld the sentence last February.
“Throughout her detention and the judicial proceedings, from the Criminal Circuit Court to the Appellate Court and the Court of Cassation, the Philippine government has spared no effort to assist Ranario and her family," Endaya assured.
Philippine embassy officers have regularly visited and counseled her and attended court proceedings. The department and the embassy assisted Ranario's parents in their travel to Kuwait in April 2006 to visit her at the Sulaibiya Central Jail.
Ranario's two children are provided counseling by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and scholarship by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, he added.Five seasoned and highly respected Kuwaiti lawyers have so far been provided by the government to defend her, Endaya further said.
Representations to Kuwaiti authorities for clemency have been made on Ranario's behalf by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Vice-President Noli De Castro and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, he asserted.
Through the efforts of the Office of the President, the department and the embassy, tanazuls (affidavits of forgiveness) have been secured from the family of the victim.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos and Endaya are personally overseeing efforts to save the life of Ranario, according to the DFA.On Oct. 31, an alliance of migrant workers’ groups launched an online petition to save Ranario from death by hanging. Migrante International, one of the members of the alliance that spearheads the Save Marilou Ranario Movement (SMRM), lashed at President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration for what it considers as systematic criminal neglect of migrants, especially those languishing in death row.
When the final appeal was due for oral argument on Nov 13, Filipino groups in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States staged simultaneous protest marches and pressed for clemency for Ranario.Members of the Kalipunan ng mga Filipinong Nagkakaisa (KAFIN), Philippine Women's League of Japan, the Filipina Circle for Advancement and Progress (FICAP), and Migrante – Japan trooped to Kuwait embassy in Tokyo and appealed for Ranario whose conviction is on final appeal at the Kuwaiti Supreme Court.
“For humanitarian reasons, Marilou Ranario must be spared her life," said Dolores Balladares of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK).Balladares said Ranario's employer took video footages of her and tried to sell her to two men.“As desperation drove her to go abroad, cruelty under the hands of her employer brought her to such deed.
It will be unjust to make her and her family to suffer more," she said.Prior to the murder, Marilou reported to her family of that she was verbally and physically abused by her employer, Balladares said. - GMANews.TV
Kuwait’s Cessation Court will hand down its decision on Tuesday next week on the appeal for clemency of Ranario, a 35-year-old Filipina domestic helper from Surigao del Norte who had been convicted for killing her employer in January 2005.Ranario, a mother of two, left a teaching job in the Philippines in 2003 to work as a domestic helper in Kuwait.
Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo M. Endaya reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday last week that Kuwait's 11-member Court of Cassation heard oral arguments on Ranario’s appeal on Nov. 13.
Two highly respected Kuwaiti defense lawyers --Ahmad Qurban and Abdel Majid Khuraibet -- argued Ranario's case at the instance of the Philippine government.
The court has set the promulgation of its decision for Dec. 27, 2007, Endaya said.But in a text message Wednesday, DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal issued a clarification that the court will promulgate its decision on Nov. 27.The militant Migrante International quickly lambasted the DFA for allegedly "concealing" the information from Ranario's family.
"This is incredibly distressing news, especially since the DFA did not even have the temerity to contact Marilou's family about either the December or November verdict dates. Either they are guilty of deliberately concealing this information or they are just incredibly inept," said Lian Santos, deputy secretary general of Migrante in a news conference in Quezon City.
She said Ranario's father and Migrante leaders were told of the Nov. 27 verdict date by the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs executive director Cresente Relacion last Monday when they held a picket at the DFA premises.Ranario was charged for the murder of her Kuwaiti employer Najat Mahmoud Faraj Mobarak on January 11, 2005.
Kuwait’s Court of First Instance sentenced her to die by hanging eight months later. The Court of Appeals upheld the sentence last February.
“Throughout her detention and the judicial proceedings, from the Criminal Circuit Court to the Appellate Court and the Court of Cassation, the Philippine government has spared no effort to assist Ranario and her family," Endaya assured.
Philippine embassy officers have regularly visited and counseled her and attended court proceedings. The department and the embassy assisted Ranario's parents in their travel to Kuwait in April 2006 to visit her at the Sulaibiya Central Jail.
Ranario's two children are provided counseling by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and scholarship by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, he added.Five seasoned and highly respected Kuwaiti lawyers have so far been provided by the government to defend her, Endaya further said.
Representations to Kuwaiti authorities for clemency have been made on Ranario's behalf by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Vice-President Noli De Castro and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, he asserted.
Through the efforts of the Office of the President, the department and the embassy, tanazuls (affidavits of forgiveness) have been secured from the family of the victim.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos and Endaya are personally overseeing efforts to save the life of Ranario, according to the DFA.On Oct. 31, an alliance of migrant workers’ groups launched an online petition to save Ranario from death by hanging. Migrante International, one of the members of the alliance that spearheads the Save Marilou Ranario Movement (SMRM), lashed at President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration for what it considers as systematic criminal neglect of migrants, especially those languishing in death row.
When the final appeal was due for oral argument on Nov 13, Filipino groups in Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States staged simultaneous protest marches and pressed for clemency for Ranario.Members of the Kalipunan ng mga Filipinong Nagkakaisa (KAFIN), Philippine Women's League of Japan, the Filipina Circle for Advancement and Progress (FICAP), and Migrante – Japan trooped to Kuwait embassy in Tokyo and appealed for Ranario whose conviction is on final appeal at the Kuwaiti Supreme Court.
“For humanitarian reasons, Marilou Ranario must be spared her life," said Dolores Balladares of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil-Migrante-HK).Balladares said Ranario's employer took video footages of her and tried to sell her to two men.“As desperation drove her to go abroad, cruelty under the hands of her employer brought her to such deed.
It will be unjust to make her and her family to suffer more," she said.Prior to the murder, Marilou reported to her family of that she was verbally and physically abused by her employer, Balladares said. - GMANews.TV
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