MANILA, Philippines – It was their last 30 minutes together.

Sentenced to death in China, a 35-year-old Filipina met her family for half an hour on Monday, July 1, before her scheduled execution. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said the meeting happened at around 10:30 am on Monday at the Zhejiang prison in Hangzhou.

“This will be the only time that the family would be allowed to talk to our kababayan (fellow Filipino) in that detention center,” Hernandez said.

He said the Filipina, whom the government refused to identify, is set for execution any time from Monday to Wednesday, July 3. This is while the Chinese government is processing the appeal made by President Benigno Aquino III himself.

Last-ditch attempts

Aquino on Thursday, June 27, wrote a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping to save the Filipina on death row.

Even Vice President Jejomar Binay was supposed to fly China to appeal for the Filipina’s life. Binay, however, cancelled his trip after China said it was “not a convenient time” to go.

The Filipina was convicted for smuggling 6.198 kilos of heroin into China. The Supreme People’s Court in Beijing last Wednesday, June 26, affirmed a lower court’s decision sentencing her to death.

Hernandez said she “has been going back and forth” from Dubai, Hong Kong, and China up to 18 times since 2008. For each of these 18 rounds, she was supposedly paid $3,000 to $4,000 (P132,000 to P172,000).

This means she earned up to P3 million from 2008 until 2011, when she was apprehended. – Rappler.com