DFA: Mary Jane Veloso 'hopefully' home by Christmas

Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina on death row for drug trafficking in Indonesia, may come home to the Philippines by Christmas, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday.

“Although hindi pa ito nafa-finalize, ipagdasal natin na matapos na ito na sana by Christmas makauwi na si Mary Jane…We pray that it will be totally a success at hindi ito ma-delay pa para umabot sana, wala akong pangako, pero sana umabot by Christmas,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said in an interview on Radyo Pilipinas.

(Although it has not been finalized yet, let's pray that it will be completed by Christmas and Mary Jane will be able to return to the Philippines...We pray that it will be totally a success and that it will not be delayed. I am not promising anything but hopefully she’s back in the Philippines by Christmas.)

De Vega said the Philippines several months ago reached out to Indonesia about Veloso’s case as a new start of their relations with the new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. earlier in the day announced that an agreement has been reached with Indonesian authorities to bring Veloso, who was arrested in 2010, back to the Philippines.

“After over a decade of diplomacy and consultations with the Indonesian government, we managed to delay her execution long enough to reach an agreement to finally bring her back to the Philippines,” Marcos said in a statement.

Transfer

A few weeks ago, the Indonesian government talked to the Philippine ambassador to express its willingness to transfer Veloso to Manila, according to De Vega.

“Ang kailangan lang, may formal request galing sa ating Justice Department na binigay na (Only a formal request from our Justice Department is needed,  which has already been submitted)," he said.

“So hinihintay lang natin yung final decision ng Indonesia para uupo tayo with them para ano yung mga detalye kasi ang usapan pag-uwi sa atin parang dito lang siya nakakulong pero paano tayo magkakaroon ng chance na eventually mapalaya rin siya?,” he added.

(So we're just waiting for Indonesia's final decision so we can sit down with them to determine the details because apparently the agreement is she will be our detainee when she’s back but how can we have a chance to eventually release her?)

Considering that the Philippines does not impose the death penalty, De Vega noted that Veloso will not be executed and may even be given clemency by Marcos.

“Mukhang willing din ang Indonesia pero wala pa tayong final word na kapag nalipat na sa atin maaaring si President na after some time, hindi agad siya na mag-issue ng clemency, dahil basehan na matagal na siyang nakakulong at siya ay biktima,” he said.

(Indonesia also seems willing, but we still don't have the final word, that when she is already transferred to us, our President may give her clemency, but after some time, not immediately, because she has been in prison for a long time and is a victim.)

Conviction

Veloso in 2010 was convicted of drug trafficking after she was caught with 2.6 kilos of heroin in Yogyakarta. She was given the death penalty.

She has since been asserting her innocence, saying she was just a victim of human trafficking.

The Philippine government has repeatedly asked the Indonesian government for her freedom.

In 2015, then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo said their government gave Veloso a “temporary reprieve” from her scheduled execution in relation to alleged human trafficking.

A human trafficking case and large-scale illegal recruitment cases were filed against Veloso's traffickers Julius Lacanilao and Cristina Sergio in the Regional Trial Court of Nueva Ecjia.

In 2020, a guilty verdict on the illegal recruitment case was handed down on the recruiters but the trafficking case is still pending.

In January this year, Veloso’s family sent letters to Joko Widodo and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appeal for her clemency.

--VAL, GMA Integrated News