27 December 2014

No Sense Halting a Death Penalty in Saudi

MalacaƱang Palace
Leftist activists are really something. They are a group of individuals who want nothing better than to have us waste resources convicted criminals rather than on social services for those who follow the law and pay their taxes honestly.

A good example of this happened a few days ago after some left-leaning pretenders of social justice slammed the Philippine government for not doing more to save a Filipino who was beheaded for murder in Saudi Arabia.

The convicted felon, Carlito Lana, 37, was executed in Riyadh on 5 December 2014 for shooting in cold blood a Saudi national before repeatedly running him over with a car to make sure that he is dead and humiliated at the same time.

Migrante International, an advocacy group for the millions of Filipinos working overseas, condemned the execution, saying the government of President Benigno Aquino had failed to adequately defend Lana.

"This shows migrant rights are not protected. There is not enough legal assistance given by the Aquino government to our expatriates abroad," said Mic Catuira, spokesman of the group.

"That is why our Filipinos abroad go through these travesties," he said, insisting that Lana had acted in self defense when he killed the Saudi man in December 2010.

That argument of Migrante is really stretching it. Can anybody tell us here who in their right mind will defend their lives by shooting an unarmed person and drive their car over the body several times? That is not self-defense. That is simply a brutal murder.

On the claim that the government did not do anything, the foreign department already showed proof that they hired law offices and provided Lana with all necessary assistance during the trial to ensure his rights were respected.

"Mr. Lana was given a fair trial," it stressed in a statement.

That should be enough for a murderer. If he can’t accept that, then his family should deal with it. Lana was caught, tried and found guilty. The law is clear in Saudi Arabia and he should take the full brunt of the penalty for his crime.

The family of the slain man refused to accept "blood money", or a cash payment in exchange for forgiving Lana and sparing him from execution, which should be the case. Any sane family will not accept anything less than a life for a life and Migrante can chew on that.