'It's a miracle': Filipino inmate's family rejoices after 11th-hour reprieve from Indonesian firing squad
Surprise and joy for relatives of condemned convict who was spared the firing squad
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 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 dramatic headline, above a large photograph of the condemned Filipina maid whose plight has captivated the nation.
Manila's best-selling Filipino-language tabloid 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 headline read, referring to criticism over the supposed "negligence" by the government of Benigno Aquino, using media nickname - President Noynoy.
"All hopes fade," the said, while the 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.
