A Filipino foreign worker Jakatia Pawawas was executed in Kuwait last month. She was accused of killing her employer's daughter in May 2007 and found guilty and sentenced to death in 2008 in Kuwait. An appeal was filed but the appeal court in Kuwait upheld the death sentence in 2009.
The tragic incident and subsequent execution have shocked the Philippines and have been brought to attention of many Filipinos on the fairness and transparency in the judicial procedures of foreign legal systems.
In contrast to the unfair and discriminatory treatments meted out to the Filipino OFWs in some countries, more than 150,000 Filipino OFWs in Taiwan are fairly treated and well protected by the law in Taiwan. They are guaranteed by the national minimum wage and receive exactly the same national health insurance as Taiwan nationals do.
As Taiwan is a peaceful and safe place, Filipinos are fairly fond of Taiwan and consider Taiwan as their second home. There are approximately 8,000 Filipinos who are married with Taiwanese. Most of them fell in love at work. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese also thank them for their hardwork and contribution toward the economic development in Taiwan.
As a full-fledged democracy, Taiwan is internationally renowned for its protection of human right. The majority of the Filipino OFWs are law-abiding and hardworking. So far, only two Philippine nationals committed serious crimes, like murder, in Taiwan. However, they have received fair and transparent trials based on the due process of law under a three-tiered court system made up of the Supreme Courts, High Courts, and the District Courts in Taiwan.
The public's confidence in the judiciary in Taiwan is high, as its legal system is based on efficiency, accessibility, judicial transparency, fairness, and integrity.
Taiwan’s legal system is not geared toward exercising the principle of vengeance. Rather, its major aim is to set the convicts on the right path and focus on the importance of rehabilitation.
The afore-said two murder cases are exemplified here.
A Filipino woman named Nemencia Armia was initially sentenced to death for stabbing her job broker, a 48-year-old Taiwanese woman who helped foreigners find teaching jobs at private schools in the Kaohsiung area in Taiwan in 2007. Armia was caught on closed circuit television disposing of the broker's body in a garbage bag. She also made several ATM withdrawals to the tune of over NT$660,000 (US$20,200) from the deceased bank account by using the deceased victim’s ATM card.
Armia was firstly sentenced to death by the Kaohsiung District Court in Taiwan. However, on humanitarian ground, the Taiwan High Court’s Kaohsiung branch overruled a lower court’s death sentence and twice sentenced Armia to life in prison rather than death in 2010. The mitigation of sentence was based on the consideration that “the killing was a sudden occurrence, and was not premeditated,” and “Armia did not carefully plan her crime and did not obtain a large amount of money, so she is not considered to be an extremely evil criminal.”
According to the TV report, Armia was silent during the court hearing. After she was told by an interpreter that her death sentence had been mitigated to a life sentence, she said “thank you” to the judge.
In addition, another Filipino man identified as Darwin Gorospe Sarmiento was also sentenced by Taiwan’s District Court in 2015 to death for killing a grocery store owner in Taiwan’s Taoyuan County in 2014. Aside from murder, Sarmiento was also convicted of sexual assault and robbery.
Sarmiento initially denied involvement in the killing, but confessed when he learned the store's surveillance camera had captured the killing and robbery. He killed the store owner with a hammer then stabbing him in the neck with a screwdriver.
However, Taiwan’s Supreme Court said Sarmiento did not intend to kill the owner, but was trying to rob the grocery store. It also noted Sarmiento had been under severe financial pressure to settle medical bills for his daughter who has a congenital heart disease.
Eventually, instead of the death penalty, the Supreme Court in Taiwan commuted the sentence of Sarmiento convicted of murder to life imprisonment.
Taiwan’s clemency for the said two Filipinos over the above murder cases shows that Taiwan has not only adhered to the due process of law, but also fulfilled the universal value of the respect for human rights and humanitarian compassion.
If the above-mentioned convicts have been penitent and behaved well in prisons, they are eligible to apply for the parole after serving certain years required by the law in Taiwan.
TECO, based on goodwill, is also willing to help Armia's and Sarmiento’s family members to obtain visas if they wish to visit them in Taiwan.
As a matter of fact, the Hon. Congresswoman Rose Marie “Baby” J. Arenas visited these two Filipinos earlier on when she paid a visit to Taiwan and asked the Taiwan authorities to give humanitarian consideration to these two Filipino prisoners. In a way, the mitigation of sentence is a timely response to the friendly appeal from Taiwan’s closest neighbor.
Looking forward, in the time of a new era for Taiwan and the Philippines, as Taiwan is implementing the “New Southbound Policy” to strengthen its relations with Southeast Asia region, and as the Philippines has been on top of the agenda as the gateway to ASEAN countries, both countries should expand and strengthen multifaceted cooperation and partnership, including more people-to-people engagement and interaction.
Taiwan has been a peaceful, law-abiding and non-threatening member of the international community. Further, a democratic Taiwan is an important strategic buffer for the national security of the Philippines. As Taiwan controls the access between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia as well as the first islands chain, Taiwan and the Philippines should get to know each other better and build up stronger and more solid relationship so as to create a “win-win” situation that will be conducive to the enhancement of peace and stability, thereby benefiting all stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region.
Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin
Representative of ROC(Taiwan) to the Philippines
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office
February 13, 2017
