Migrante International, an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations, thinks that Cecilia Alcaraz will most likely serve her sentence of life imprisonment in Taiwan unless the Philippine government genuinely exerts efforts to have her freed. Migrante also earlier expressed its dismay over the decision of the Taiwan Appellate Court saying that Alcaraz should not be jailed even for just one second.
BY JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat
Migrante International, an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations, thinks that Cecilia Alcaraz will most likely serve her sentence of life imprisonment in Taiwan unless the Philippine government genuinely exerts efforts to have her freed. Migrante also earlier expressed its dismay over the decision of the Taiwan Appellate Court saying that Alcaraz should not be jailed even for just one second.
But Gina Esguerra, Migrante International secretary-general, later told Bulatlat in an interview that they are still thankful that Alcaraz was spared from a painful death. But the struggle will not cease here. Migrante is preparing for an uphill battle to free Alcaraz.
A closer look
Alcaraz is an English teacher working in Taiwan. She was accused of having murdered Chou Mei-yun, a friend of hers and a broker who helped foreigners work in Taiwan. A video retrieved from the closed circuit camera shows two men entering the victim’s apartment at the approximate time that she was murdered. But the said video that could have cleared Alcaraz’s name was “accidentally” deleted by the police officers handling the case.
A Taiwanese lower court sentenced her to die by firing squad. However, Esguerra said, international pressure to spare Alcaraz from the death penalty might have affected the decision of the Taiwan Appellate Court to commute the sentence to life imprisonment last May 4.
Esguerra said that the law in Taiwan gives them at least six months to one year before they would be able to appeal for Alcaraz’s freedom before Taiwan’s Supreme Court.
More help
With all the media attention given to Alcaraz’s case, Esguerra believes that there would be more non-government organizations and partylist groups that would extend their help to free Alcaraz.
Last May 2, two days before the decision of the Taiwan Appellate Court came out, Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan visited Alcaraz. Esguerra said that Ilagan observed so many loopholes in Alcaraz’s case that it was possible to have her sentence further commuted once an appeal is filed.
As of this writing, Esguerra informed Bulatlat, Ilagan is preparing a privilege speech about Alcaraz’s case. Esguerra added that Ilagan would deliver the speech in the presence of Alcaraz’s family. She hopes that through the privilege speech, Ilagan would be able to gain more supporters to free Alcaraz.
Migrante would be holding a press conference on May 12 not only to discuss the verdict of the Taiwan Appellate Court on Alcaraz’s case but also to tackle the abandoned death row cases that are still pending.
“Ang kaso ni Cecilia ay hindi natatapos sa life imprisonment lamang. Ang gusto naming mangyari ay mapauwi ito” (Cecilia’s case does not end with the commutation of her sentence to life imprisonment. What we want is for her to be able to come home), said Esguerra, adding that because of this, they would still continue to fight for Alcaraz’s freedom.(Bulatlat.com)
