MANILA — Three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking in China were executed on Wednesday, Filipino officials said, prompting grief and outrage in the Philippines.

Vice President Jejomar C. Binay, who had been designated by President Benigno S. Aquino III to intercede for the three convicts, confirmed that Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, Ramon Credo and Elizabeth Batain had been executed in China, according to Joey Salgado, the vice president’s spokesman.

Mr. Aquino’s spokeswoman, Abigail Valte, also confirmed the executions According to media reports here, the executions — Ms. Villanueva and Mr. Credo were executed in Xiamen, Ms. Batain in Shenzhen — took place shortly before noon on Wednesday.

The Philippine government had earlier asked Beijing to stay the executions, which were originally scheduled for February. Mr. Binay wrote President Hu Jintao on Tuesday pleading again for mercy, arguing that at least in the case of Ms. Villanueva, there was new evidence to indicate that she had been used as an unwitting drug courier and that sparing her would help in the prosecution of the drug traffickers who led her to bring heroin into China. A Chinese official said Tuesday that the three had been tried and convicted according to the law.

In the days leading up to the executions, prayers, masses and vigils were held across the Philippines, with the families of the convicts insisting on their innocence.

“This is a sad day for this country and we are afraid for the other Filipinos who are also on death row who have been neglected by the government,” Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, a migrant-rights group, said moments after news of the execution came.

Ms. Villanueva’s parents and siblings visited her in Xiamen, China, on Wednesday morning and were told that they could not bring in her favorite food and a mobile phone.

According to a report by Radyo Cinco, a Manila radio station, Ms. Villanueva was surprised by her relatives’ visit. The Chinese authorities had earlier said that the convicts would not know their execution date until the day came.

“She asked us why we were there and why we were crying and if she was going to die,” Ms. Villanueva’s sister, Mylene Ordinario, told Radyo Cinco from Guangzhou, China. She added that Ms. Villanueva maintained her innocence.

According to a sworn statement by Ms. Villanueva, she did not know that the luggage she used in traveling into China had been lined with heroin.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said that more than 200 Filipinos are being held in Chinese prisons, 72 of them on death row for drug trafficking. Dozens of others are also on death row in several other countries, the department said.

In its annual report on the death penalty worldwide, Amnesty International this week said China executed more people in 2010 than any other country. The organization did not list the number of executions carried out by China, citing Beijing’s practice of withholding such information.