Manila: The relatives of a Filipina sentenced to death in China for drug smuggling in 2011 met her on Monday, official sources said.
The scheduled date of her execution has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Members of her family flew to Shanghai in what was defined as their last meeting prior to the execution, according to Jejomar Binay, vice-president and presidential adviser on overseas Filipino worker concerns.
The Filipino had been given a two-year reprieve by the Chinese government for good behaviour.
On Sunday, China had rejected Binay’s visit to personally hand over a letter of appeal from Philippine President Benigno Aquino to Chinese President Xi Jinping, asking to commute the Filipina’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
Despite this rejection, a ray of hope was seen when the execution date was postponed, Raul Hernandez, spokesman of the Philippine foreign affairs department, said.
The Philippine government has not lost hope for a positive response from China, since Aquino’s letter was also sent to the Chinese Embassy in Manila last week, Hernandez said.
China is not known for commuting a death sentence for drug trafficking.
Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte was emphatic with her support for the convicted Filipina. She said: “At this point, I will not agree with the assumption of the question that there is no hope.”
Last week, the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing upheld a lower court’s sentence that convicted the Filipina for smuggling 6.198 kilos of heroin in a Shanghai airport on January 25, 2011.
Her male companion, a relative, was also apprehended for carrying the same amount of heroin at the same airport on the same date.
