Veloso: Don’t cry for me

No countdown yet

But the order, according to Jose, did not indicate when Veloso’s execution would be carried out.

“The attorney general’s office will announce it,” Jose said, adding that a 72-hour countdown to the execution had not yet begun.

The letter from the attorney general’s office, dated April 23, instructed prosecutors to prepare for the execution of 10 convicts, including Veloso.

The family of Veloso received the order in Cilacap, the port city in Central Java nearest to Nusakambangan where they arrived earlier and were waiting to be taken to the island for the reunion.

Veloso was transferred to the island from her prison cell in Jogjakarta on Friday, indicating that her execution for drug trafficking was imminent.

Malacañang also confirmed the order of execution on Saturday, but said President Aquino would try to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the 26th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to save Veloso.

Mr. Aquino leaves for Kuala Lumpur Sunday to attend the Asean summit.

READ: Aquino writes Widodo, Binay flies to Indonesia in bids to save Veloso

“[Saving Veloso] is one of the priority concerns of President Aquino if there is a chance for him to speak with President Widodo,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said.

In her radio interview, Marites said her sister made a few wishes during the family visit.

“She wanted me and my brother to be on the island on the day of the execution so [we could] pick up her body afterward,” Marites said.

Another sister, Darlene Veloso-Cando, who stayed home to continue pressing the government to do something to save Veloso, said she talked with Mary Jane by telephone from her cell in Jogjakarta early on Friday and she sounded to be losing hope that a miracle would save her.

Darlene said Mary Jane was fearful about her situation.

Gov’t appeal

“I felt her fear in her voice. She sounded nervous. That’s when I learned from her that she was about to be transferred to an island where she was to be executed,” Darlene said.

“Help me, please, because they are taking me to the island,” Darlene quoted Mary Jane as telling her.

Vice President Jejomar Binay returned from Indonesia yesterday after attending the Asia-Africa summit, during which he handed the Philippine government’s appeal to spare the life of Veloso to his Indonesian counterpart, Jusuf Kalla.

Binay called on Filipinos to pray harder for Veloso.

“Let us pray for her. Let us just pray harder because those I talked to, they understand, but some said there was an operation against drug [trafficking],” Binay told reporters at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Binay said he met with Indonesian Cabinet officials, including a “really high-ranking” official whose identity he did not disclose.

He said he had received no assurance from the officials, who could only relay the Philippine appeal to Widodo.

“You have to understand that the discretion will come from the (Indonesian) president,” Binay said.

The Philippine government filed a second appeal for judicial review of Veloso’s case in the Indonesian Supreme Court in Jakarta on Friday.

Also on Friday, the overseas workers’ organization Migrante International also filed a second appeal on Veloso’s behalf in Jogjakarta.

“There is a possibility that the execution will not be carried out until the case [is] concluded,” Olalia said on Saturday.

Veloso was arrested when authorities found 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase at Jogjakarta airport in 2009.

She was tried on charges of drug trafficking, convicted and sentenced to death.