MANILA, Philippines—She regretted killing her 7-year-old Kuwaiti ward, but was grateful for the lessons she learned from her ordeal in a foreign land.

Pardoned Filipino domestic helper May Vecina arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 9 a.m. Tuesday, full of remorse, but profusely thankful to her victim’s family for giving her a new lease on life.

Accompanied by Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya on the Qatar Airways flight, Vecina, 30, was whisked off to a press conference at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) presided over by Vice President Noli de Castro and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

“I thank God and all the people who helped me and made it possible for me to get back here. My gratitude is boundless. I thought I’d never see our country again. Now, I just want to go home and be with my family and enjoy my second life with them,” Vecina told reporters.

She said she killed her ward and wounded his siblings in a fit of “temporary insanity” caused by the anger and depression she was feeling because of her maltreatment. She said her male employer had tried to rape her, she was starved, made to sleep on the floor, and was not paid her wages.

“I did not plan to hurt the children, I wasn’t myself,” she said.

“Pinagsisihan ko din siyempre, may anak din ako (Of course I regret what I did, I have children, too),” Vecina said. Her two children are aged 4 and 9.

She said one lesson she learned from her experience was not to seek greener pastures abroad if you already had a job in the Philippines.

She said she had no plans of going abroad again to work, preferring to return to her hometown of Matalam in North Cotabato to be with her husband Leo and their children.

She thanked De Castro and President Macapagal-Arroyo for intervening in her case, which resulted in her death sentence being commuted to life imprisonment and, later, to a full pardon.

She also expressed her gratitude to Romulo, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque and Endaya for their efforts in saving her from death row.

In May 2008, Kuwait’s Court of Cassation (Supreme Court) upheld the death sentence meted out by a lower court which found Vecina guilty of killing Salem Sulaiman Al-Otaib on Jan. 6, 2007.

On July 8, 2008, Kuwait’s leader, Emir Sheikh Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, commuted Vecina’s sentence to life imprisonment following appeals made by President Arroyo and De Castro.

On June 1 this year, the emir granted Vecina full pardon for good behavior during her detention at the Sulaibiya Central Jail.

“It was a great miracle,” he said.