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

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 Filipino ex-maid 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, her sister said.

“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 home the image of Mary Jane “smiling and waving” at them, thinking she would be dead before dawn along with seven foreign men and one Indonesian man convicted of drug crimes.

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 smile she has today.”

Mary Jane Veloso was transferred back to Wirogunan Penitentiary on Wednesday, the prison where she spent nearly five years since her conviction in October 2010 for heroin smuggling. Wirogunan is in Yogyakarta, a region 557 kilometres southeast of the capital Jakarta.

The Veloso family maintains that 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 her arrival 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, Marites said, citing authorities, that Mary Jane could be asked to testify in Sergio’s case.

Mary Jane’s brave front was a startling change from what Marites knew of Mary Jane, the youngest of five siblings who grew up “poor and hungry” in different Philippine cities, wherever their farmer-labourer parents could find work.

“She was faint of heart, easily frightened, and prone to tears when we were children. Even when she was a young woman, you’d send her to a nearby market and she’d be scared to do that,” said Marites, who works as a food vendor.

“I told her [at the jail], why are you so brave now? She said, ‘Maybe because in my five years in prison I haven’t done anything except go to church, talk to a priest and read the bible.’”

Mary Jane was arrested nearly five years to the day, on April 25, 2010, at Yogyakarta airport with 2.6kg of heroin packed neatly in her luggage. She only told her parents that she was jailed a month later, on May 11, a day after her father’s birthday.

Marites told the Post they initially trusted Sergio because she was the wife of a close friend. After Mary Jane was jailed, the Velosos demanded answers from Sergio, who was living in the same city in Nueva Ecija province.

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

“[Sergio] hugged my parents. She said, ‘Don’t worry. I will do everything I can to help her, even if I have to pay 1 million [pesos],’” Marites said. Weeks later, Sergio dropped out of contact.

Marites said her family spent four years from 2010 to last year appealing for help, through letters and visits, from the Philippine foreign affairs department and the presidential palace. Indonesia had a moratorium on executions during that time.

But the case took on more urgency after Indonesian President Joko Widodo took office and rejected all clemency requests. Marites said the activist party-list group Migrante was instrumental in calling attention to her sister’s plight.

Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal is not over, however, as the Indonesian attorney-general said the reprieve was only a “postponement” of her execution. Indonesia defended today’s executions as necessary in the war against illegal drugs.

Still, Marites remains hopeful. Along with members of Migrante and diplomatic officials, the Velosos are hoping to visit Mary Jane again in Yogyakarta on Thursday before flying home to the Philippines.

This time, there will be tears of joy.

“It will be the exact opposite of our last meeting. I will embrace her. The first thing I will say is, ‘Praise the Lord, hallelujah,’” said Marites. “Our hope has been renewed that she will one day be freed. We will go home happy.”