Statement of Senator Pia S. Cayetano
Chairperson, Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations

"As a nation, we grieve for the loss of our kababayans who were executed in China today. But along with our sympathies to their families and loved ones, we must also look into the circumstances that have brought abut the situation.

"In China alone, about 70 of our kababayans are facing execution for drug trafficking while about a hundred more are on death row in other countries."

Note: In November 2010, Sen. Cayetano delivered a privilege speech and called for a Senate probe on the rising number of Filipino drug mules on death row, most of them women.