The government has only obtained a permission from the Fujian Provincial Higher People’s Court that allowed the families of Ramon Credo, 42; Sally Villanueva, 32; and Elizabeth Batain, 38, to pay a visit from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. before the promulgation of the sentences are read, the department said in a statement.
The government, as a last resort, has sent a final appeal through a letter of Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay to Chinese President Hu Jintao, urging Beijing to spare the three Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who may be instrumental in tracking down leaders of the drug smuggling syndicate.
"I appeal to the Chinese government to help us keep Villanueva and the two others alive to enable us to establish beyond any reasonable doubt whether at least one or two or all three of them are mere unwitting couriers, while the real principals are still at large in the Philippines," the Vice-President said in his letter.
Mr. Binay had obtained a temporary stay on the execution after a visit to China last month.
Credo and Villanueva were originally scheduled to be executed on Feb. 21, and Batain on Feb. 22.
Mr. Binay, however, clarified that there was no withdrawal of sentence and that China allowed only a deferment of the execution.
Credo was convicted for smuggling 4,113 grams (g) of heroin in Xiamen; Villanueva for smuggling 4,110g of heroin in Xiamen; and Batain for smuggling 6,800g of heroin in Shenzhen.
Under China’s criminal code, the possession of at least 50 grams of heroine or any prohibited drug is punishable by death.
Sought for comment, Gary Martinez, chairman of worker rights group Migrante International, said: "We will not lose hope. They have not been executed yet."
He cited the case of a Filipino maid in Kuwait who was pardoned on the eve of her execution in 2007.
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