Dead woman walking: Just bring me back home

MANILA, Philippines -  Sally Ordinario-Villanueva will get her dying wish to return home – but in a box.

Mylene Ordinario revealed her sister’s last words during a brief visit granted to their family in Xiamen yesterday, shortly before the promulgation of the death sentence was handed down.

“It’s enough that you can now bring me back home to the Philippines,” Mylene quoted Sally as saying before they both broke down in tears.

Mylene went with her parents to see Sally for the last time at the Xiamen detention house. They were flown to China on arrangements by the Philippine government after Chinese judicial authorities turned down appeals for clemency.

Philippine consulate officials led by Consul Noel Novicio and a Filipino priest accompanied them yesterday in visiting Sally.

Novicio promised the families of Sally and the two other doomed Filipinos that the Philippine consulate would try their best to facilitate and fast-track the processing of documents required for the immediate repatriation of their remains back to the Philippines.

“We have to follow certain procedures and processing of papers here in Beijing for their repatriation,” Novicio said.

Mylene narrated to dzBB radio her conversations with Sally shortly before the execution.

According to Mylene, her sister was not even aware that she was to be executed.

Mylene though noted Sally seemed to be resigned to her fate although no one among them was brave enough to tell her about the failed efforts of the Philippine government to spare her from execution.

Mylene could not help but lament the strictness of Chinese officials who refused their request to bring a cellular phone inside the jail to allow Sally to talk with her husband and children in the Philippines.

“They even refused to let in the host (ostiya) that the Filipino priest brought with him for the last rites of my ate,” Mylene sobbed.

All that they were allowed to bring to Sally were a rosary and novena booklets, which according to Mylene, she had a difficult time explaining to Chinese authorities that they are religious items.

All of Sally’s personal belongings while in detention were given back to them, Mylene said.

Mylene cried all the more while describing how they could not even got close to hug Sally behind the grills of her cell because of a huge table separating them.

She said Sally tried to make light of her situation, telling their mother how she lost weight and grown older after more than two years that they had not seen each other since her detention in China.

“My sister even told me I should be happy that I was able to go to (China) because of her. But I told her I would be happier if she is freed and we would all be able to return home together,” Mylene cried.

Mylene said Sally even reminded them to thank the Philippine government for all the assistance extended to their family.

After their one-hour visit, Mylene said Sally was taken out from her cell in handcuffs and they were all directed to proceed to a hall where the promulgation of her case was conducted.

The promulgation of the case of fellow death convict Ramon Credo was first read in English before Sally’s turn, she said.

When Sally’s turn came, Mylene saw her elder sister trying hard not to cry while she listened intently to the promulgation declaring her guilty of drug trafficking, the penalty for which is death.

At the end of the reading of the promulgation, Sally was asked in English if she understood all that was read to her and she simply replied, “Yes.”

Sally was then asked to sign the documents read to her.

Mylene said the jail guards standing beside her sister took off Sally’s handcuff to allow her to sign the papers, after which she was again handcuffed.

That was the last time Mylene saw her sister before they went back to the Philippine consulate for lunch and headed straight to the airport for their flight home to Manila last night.

A few hours after Sally’s execution yesterday, Peter Geronimo Ordinario said they were allowed to see the remains of his daughter. “We saw her already wrapped in a black plastic. Her skin appeared darkened already, perhaps because of the chemicals of the lethal injection given (to) her,” Peter told radio dzBB.

Back home, Sally’s two children in Jones, Isabela were moved to an undisclosed location, away from the media. Sally’s husband Hilarion went in seclusion somewhere in Santiago City.

“We want to spare the children from being interviewed by the media,” said a relative, Edith Bueno.

She added the Villanueva children were already traumatized upon learning that their mother would be executed.

The eldest Princess Joy will graduate salutatorian on April 6. She said she is dedicating her graduation from elementary to her mother. She hopes to be a lawyer someday.

Bueno said their family could not blame Hilarion for refusing to go to China and see his wife for the last time.

Bueno claimed Hilarion had been drinking and crying in pleading his wife’s innocence.

On the other hand, the family of Elizabeth Batain, one of the three Filipinos in death row in China, slammed the media in the attempt to contact them before and after the execution.

A member of Batain family who identified herself as Angel issued a statement berating the media for “invasion” of privacy.

“On behalf of my entire family, both in China and the Philippines, we would like to request all media to refrain from contacting us during these traumatic times. We need to stay stronger as a family and focus our attention to God. This constant harassment is an invasion of our privacy,” Angel said.

Angel said her family still believed that no execution could happen even as China did not grant the Philippines’ appeal for a permanent stay of execution.

“We still believe that this is just a trial for our family. Our faith is in God. We believe no execution could happen. We are still fighting for it,” she added.

Angel urged the media to focus attention instead on how drug syndicates are using Filipino workers as drug mules or couriers.

“We reiterate that we do not allow any TV network or press to release pictures of my sister or any member of our family. For the last time, could you all please respect my family’s privacy,” she said.

The Philippine embassy in Beijing has advised the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the families of the three have requested privacy from the media.

The DFA took the initiative of declining to elaborate on details but released the timeline of the cases of the three drug mules.

In deference to the request of the families of the three doomed Filipinos, DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya said they are not making “further statements as of the moment.”

In a separate radio interview, the Philippine consul announced Vice President Jejomar Binay was the first official informed on the execution of the three Filipinos.

Apart from Villanueva and Batain, Ramon Credo was the third Filipino executed yesterday for drug trafficking.

Novicio said there are 74 more Filipinos on death row in China, all convicted for drug trafficking.

He said all 74 are currently on two-year reprieve under Chinese penal laws that could entitle them to life imprisonment or even repatriation, depending on their good behavior while in jail.

Novicio, however, admitted there is another Filipino on death row who was earlier sentenced without any reprieve.

Novicio though did not identify the Filipino convict but said the case has been automatically submitted for review.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman, on the other hand, said they would provide counseling and psychotherapy to the families of the three executed Filipinos.

Soliman said DSWD social workers have been with the family members since Tuesday to provide them counseling.

Soliman also appealed to the media to respect the privacy of the families, particularly the children of the three executed Filipinos.

“We appeal to the media to spare the children of the three Filipinos by not dragging them into the issue of their parents’ execution to prevent further trauma,” Soliman said. –With Helen Flores, Raymund Catindig, Pia Lee-Brago