Led by the hand through a scrum of reporters to an Indonesian prison island, the six-year-old Filipino looked confused and frightened as he made one of his final visits to his mother before her execution.
During the visit to Nusakambangan Island, Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso gently explained to six-year-old Mark Darren and her second son, 12-year-old Mark Danielle, that she would not be coming home.
“She tried to explain again,” Veloso’s elder sister Marites Veloso-Laurente told AFP during an interview in Cilacap, the port town that is the gateway to the island.
“If Mumma does not go home, just think Mumma is in heaven.”
As the clock ticks down on the execution by firing squad of eight foreign drug convicts, heartbroken relatives who have fought for years to save their loved ones are rushing to say final farewells.
The convicts, who also include nationals from Australia, Brazil and Nigeria, all recently lost clemency appeals to President Joko Widodo. They could be put to death as soon as Tuesday after they received official notification of their executions at the weekend.
Veloso’s two sons travelled with their family — some of whom had never flown — from an impoverished community north of Manila to hear a message almost impossible for them to take in.
Veloso, 30, was convicted of trafficking heroin into Indonesia in 2009, but says her only crime was to fall victim to international drug gangs who are now threatening to kill her family if they speak out.
Her case has drawn huge attention in the Philippines, with supporters calling for clemency at regular rallies in Manila. Even world boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao pleaded Monday for her life to spared, taking time out from preparations for his fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Manila Bulletin
