MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine president says he will ask his Chinese counterpart to commute the death sentences of three Filipinos scheduled to be executed next week in China for drug trafficking.
Benigno Aquino III said Wednesday that officials were trying to set up a phone call to Chinese President Hu Jintao so he could personally make the appeal on behalf of the two women and one man, whose death sentences were affirmed last week by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the three were arrested separately in 2008 carrying packages containing about 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of heroin into China. They were convicted and sentenced in 2009.
