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KRISTINE SERVANDO

On the day Marites Veloso visited her sister Mary Jane for what they thought would be the last time, as the prospect of execution by firing squad loomed, the jailed Filipina was far from frightened.
Her family broke down in tears while visiting her at Indonesia's "execution island" Nusakambangan on Tuesday, an emotional reunion after two years of separation. But Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, 30, appeared calm, says her sister.
"We were crying so hard," Marites told the South China Morning Post by phone from Yogyakarta. "But she was smiling, telling us she didn't want to see us weep. She was laughing like it was an ordinary day."
Marites said they left the jail that day, taking away the image of Mary Jane "smiling and waving", thinking she would be dead before dawn along with seven foreign men and one Indonesian man convicted of drug crimes.
READ MORE: Foreign outrage as Indonesian firing squad executes eight drug traffickers
To her family's shock and joy, Mary Jane was spared, given an 11th-hour reprieve after a new development in her case.
"If that was her smile" when we thought she would be executed, Marites said, "I can only imagine what she has today."

Mary Jane was transferred back to Wirogunan Penitentiary yesterday, the prison where she spent nearly five years since her conviction in October 2010 for heroin smuggling. The Veloso family maintains Mary Jane - who worked for a 10-month stint as a maid in Dubai - was duped into smuggling drugs by a recruiter working for "an international syndicate", who promised her a high-paying job as a domestic helper in Malaysia.
Instead, the family alleges, the recruiter told her upon arriving in Malaysia that there was a change of plan and that she would have to work in Indonesia.
WATCH: Domestic helper 'duped' into drugs smuggling - Mary Jane Veloso's story

The recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, surrendered to Philippine police on Monday. After the reprieve, citing authorities, Marites said Mary Jane could be asked to testify in Sergio's case.
Marites said her family spent four years appealing for help from the Philippine foreign affairs department and the presidential palace Mary Jane's ordeal is not over, however. Indonesia's attorney general has said the reprieve was only a "postponement" of her execution in the case. Still, Marites is hopeful.
 

Headline hiccup

Several Philippine newspapers were caught out yesterday by a last-minute death-row reprieve for Mary Jane Veloso, running front-page headlines bidding her farewell and accusing the government of failure
"Death came before dawn," read the Philippine Daily Inquirer's dramatic headline, above a large photograph of the condemned Filipina maid whose plight has captivated the nation.
Manila's best-selling Filipino-language tabloid Abante ran a black-themed front page together with a picture of Veloso, head bowed, and a headline in capitals that read: "Farewell, Mary Jane".
Indonesian President Joko Widodo granted an 11th-hour reprieve after a woman suspected of recruiting Veloso turned herself in to authorities in the Philippines.
However the news of the cancelled midnight execution came too late for most Filipino papers rushing to put out their final print editions.
"PNOY IS TO BLAME," the tabloid Standard's headline read, referring to criticism over the supposed "negligence" by the government of Benigno Aquino, using media nickname - President Noynoy.
"All hopes fade," the Manila Times said, while the Manila Bulletin rworked across three editions with the evolving headlines "We're hoping for a miracle", "No delay in execution" and finally, "Veloso granted reprieve".
The erroneous print headlines swiftly became fodder for ridicule, with the online Coconuts Media chiding the media for "killing" Veloso.


'It's a miracle': Filipino inmate's family rejoices after 11th-hour reprieve from Indonesian firing squad

Mary Jane Veloso's sister Marites  is surrounded by the press after visiting her sister at Wijayapura port in Cilacap. Photo: AP

Activists react after the death sentence delay. Photo: Reuters

A headline saying Mary Jane Veloso had been executed.

‘Smiling in the face of death’: Sister recounts Filipino convict’s moments in Indonesia jail before reprieve

Marites Veloso (centre) is surrounded by media after visiting her sister Mary Jane at Wijayapura port in Cilacap, hours before the latter's execution was delayed. Photo: AP

Indonesia defends executions of eight drug traffickers ‘who went singing to their deaths’

An Indonesian worker puts letters on a memorial sign for Brazilian death row Rodrigo Gularte during his funeral at Saint Carolus funeral Home in Jakarta. Photo: EPA

An ambulance carrying bodies of death-row prisoners driving towards a funeral house in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Xinhua

A coffin bearing the body of one of the drug convicts is carried in an ambulance as it arrives in Cilacap after the executions. Photo: AFP

Indonesian activists hold portraits of the death-row inmates in Jakarta on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Tearful protesters hold a candlelight vigil against the death penalty  outside the Nusakambangan maximum security prison. Photo: AFP

A prison van drives away from Nusakambangan maximum security prison with the body of one of the drug traffickers executed this morning, along with an unidentified woman. Photo: AFP

Workers bury Indonesian Zainal Abidin, one of the eight death-row prisoners who were executed today. Photo: EPA

Zainal Abidin, an Indonesian executed for drug crimes along with seven foreigners today, is laid to rest in Cilacap. Photo: AFP

Indonesia's Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo (right) and Police Chief General Badrodin Haidi (left) speak to the press at Nusakambangan port in Cilacap. Photo: AFP

An Islamic cleric (left) consoles a relative of Indonesian death row prisoner Zaenal Abidin during his funeral in Cilacap. Photo: Reuters

Filipino anti-riot police stand guard next to protesters during a demonstration as they wait for the imminent execution of a Filipino mother, in front of the Indonesian embassy in Makati city, south of Manila, Philippines. Photo: EPA

Activists burn an effigy of Philippine President Benigno Aquino to denounce his government for not taking more action in the case of Mary Jane Veloso during a protest outside the presidential palace in Manila yesterday. Photo: Reuters

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Surprise and joy for relatives of condemned convict who was spared the firing squad


Surprise and joy for relatives of condemned convict who was spared the firing squad.
