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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 12) – A Filipino overseas worker in Kuwait who was initially sentenced to death for the murder of his Filipino partner more than a decade ago is now back in the country, thanks to a clemency granted by the Emir of Kuwait, the Department of External relationships.
The OFW, identified as Bienvenido Espino, who was released from a 13-year detention, is among 314 Filipinos abroad that the DFA helped bring home on Aug. 30. They took advantage of the government’s repatriation program amid the coronavirus pandemic, the DFA said in a statement.
It took Espino more than 10 years to obtain clemency, the DFA said, adding that he received the “Amiri clemency” along with his fellow Filipinos detained at the Sulaibiya Central Jail.
The DFA noted that 12 years have passed since the Philippine government first requested Amiri’s clemency for the convicted Filipino.
A Kuwaiti court had handed down a guilty verdict on Espino on the murder charges of his partner in October 2007 and sentenced him to death by hanging in May 2008, the DFA said. The ruling was confirmed by both the court of appeals and the Kuwait high court in 2009.
But Espino’s punishment was revised to life imprisonment in 2013 after receiving a “tanazul” or letter of forgiveness from the family of his late partner, which he obtained in exchange for bloodied money.
“The issuance of a tanazul led to the commutation of his death sentence to life in prison in 2013,” said the DFA.
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