20 August 2004 – The Department of Foreign Affairs today received a report from the Philippine Embassy in Havana, Cuba (Havana PE) that the earlier decision to release the two Filipino sea-based workers has been postponed after outgoing Dominican President Hipólito Mejía decided to pass on the judgment of granting presidential pardon to his successor, President-elect Leonel Fernández.

This is an unexpected turn of events and I apologize for the building up the hopes of the families of the two Filipinos,“ said Philippine Ambassador to Havana Regina Irene P. Sarmiento.

“However, I remain committed to continue appealing to the government of newly installed Dominican President Leonel Fernández, exploring all possible legal and diplomatic avenues at my disposal to win the liberty of our compatriots and have them come home to the Philippines,” Ambassador Sarmiento stressed.

Per DFA Press Release SFA-DDA-481-04 dated 17 August 2004, it was reported that Teodoro M. Santos, Jr. and Efren G. Caballes were scheduled to be released last 14 August 2004 after almost seven years of incarceration at the La Victoria National Penitentiary in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  The announcement of the prisoner release came after Ambassador Sarmiento made representations to outgoing Dominican President Mejía during the Ambassador’s ceremonial presentation of credentials.

Ambassador Sarmiento reported that President Mejía right then and there called Dr. Victor Manuel Céspedes Martinez, the Dominican Solicitor General and gave a presidential instruction to consider the case of Santos and Caballes.  In fact, the names of Santos Jr. and Caballes were among the 100 prisoners scheduled for release under a presidential pardon.

“I was disappointed to receive reports that President Mejía in the end did not sign the decree that would formalize the grant of presidential pardon to more than 100 prisoners including Santos and Caballes,” Ambassador Sarmiento said.  This came out in spite of the fact that the list of the prisoners scheduled to be granted presidential pardon had already been published in the 07 August edition of the local Dominican newspaper Listin Diario, a clipping of which was formally transmitted to me by the Philippine Consul ad honorem to the Dominican Republic Consul Limuel Dadulo,” the Ambassador added.

On 09 August 2004 Havana PE received a report from Honorary Consul Dadulo saying that he was informed of the impending release by Santos himself.  In fact, it was Santos who informed Consul Dadulo that they (Santos and Caballes) would be released from prison on Saturday, 14 August instead of Friday, 13 August as initially reported.

“From our end, Havana PE also received a call from Santos’ brother Ben Santos in Canada, who specifically informed us of the impending release of both Filipinos in the Dominican Republic.  Mr. Ben Santos also based his information on a telephone call he received from his brother Teodoro Santos,” Ambassador Sarmiento related.

“We then made the necessary arrangements, based also on the requests of  Consul Dadulo, for the repatriation of Santos and Caballes.  The DFA Home Office in Manila authorized the Embassy to facilitate remittance of funds to be used for the repatriation of the two through the Honorary Consulate of the Philippines in Santo Domingo,” Ambassador Sarmiento said.

In her report to the DFA, Ambassador Sarmiento said that one of the reasons why President Mejía did not sign the decree formalizing the grant of presidential pardon was that the President did not want to add more problems to the end of his mandate, due to criticisms against the selection process employed by the commission created for the purpose of drawing up a list of prisoners to be granted presidential pardon.

“It was reported that the outgoing President will leave the list of the 100 prisoners selected for Presidential pardon on the desk of President-elect Fernández,” Ambassador Sarmiento reported.

According to Virgilio Almánzar, President of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights and member of the Commission on Pardons of the Office of the Solicitor General of the Dominican Republic, President Mejía “had reacted to the flood of criticism issued by the different sectors, including political and church leaders who claimed that big drug traffickers and known criminals will be granted pardon.”

Almánzar, however, justified the work of his Commission and said that he hoped that the President (Mejía) would accept the work the Commission had done as his own, as he had always done.

Teodoro M. Santos, Jr. and Efren G. Caballes were part of the crew of the MV Super Asia and have been incarcerated in the Dominican Republic since December 1997 after being convicted for illegal-drugs trafficking offenses.

The postponed release of Teodoro M. Santos, Jr. and Efren G. Caballes would have brought to five, the total number of Filipino sea-based workers serving sentences in prisons in the Dominican Republic and Cuba that have been released since the start of this year.  Ambassador Sarmiento, who is in her second year as Philippine Ambassador to Havana, was also able to work for the release of three other Filipino sea-based workers serving time in a Cuban jail (please see DFA Press Release SFA-DDA-481-04 dated 17 August 2004).

The Philippine government, through the DFA and other pertinent agencies uphold the third pillar of Philippine foreign policy, which is to give assistance to Filipino nationals abroad, regardless of whether they are convicted of crimes, serious or petty, or in most cases, being themselves the victims of various crimes and abuses.  END.