Three Filipino drug smugglers have been confirmed as executed by the People’s Republic of China. Execution was conducted despite the Philippine government’s efforts to political concession and clemency for the convicts.

42 year-old Ramon Credo and 32 year-old Sally Villanueva, two of the three convicts, saw their families for the first time in years, but the last in their lifetime just a few hours after their scheduled lethal injection. The two were sentenced of lethal injection in Xiamen City, Southeastern China. Elizabeth Batain, 32, on the other hand met her family hours earlier before her scheduled execution in Shenzhen, City.

The three were not informed, as mandated by the Chinese law, that they were to be executed Wednesday late morning. However, Consul Noel Novicio said that their sentence was promulgated earlier that day. He also said that this is the first time Filipinos were executed in the People’s Republic of China.

All three were arrested on 2008 but on separate occasions after they were alleged to have been carrying 4 kilograms of heroin. They were all convicted and sentenced a year later. Carrying at least 51 grams of heroin and other illicit drugs is punishable by lethal injection in China.

Sister of Sally Villanueva, Maylene Ordinario, said in one of her text messages from Xiamen that they were only given an hour with her sister and that “they [Chinese government] have no mercy.”

Foreign ministry of China spokesperson Jiang Yu, said that drug trafficking is recognized all over the world as a serious crime. She also said that the foreign convicts were treated and sentenced like all the other convicts, Chinese citizens alike.

Yu further stressed that they would not want to see negative impact on China’s bilateral relations with the Philippines. The Philippine government respects the decision of Chinese courts.