Marcos on granting Mary Jane Veloso clemency: We will see

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Thursday expressed openness to the granting of clemency to Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino set to be transferred to a Philippine facility after serving years in Indonesian prison following a drug conviction.

''We will see... 'di pa maliwanag ano ba talaga... this is the first time that this has happened, everything is on the table,'' Marcos told reporters in an ambush interview when asked regarding possible clemency for Veloso. 

Marcos on Wednesday announced that the Philippine government has reached an agreement with Indonesian authorities to bring Veloso back to the country. This was confirmed by Jakarta.

Veloso's lawyers, upon learning of the development, have appealed to Marcos to grant her clemency.

Veloso was arrested at an airport in Yogyakarta in Indonesia in April 2010 for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death by an Indonesian district court in October of that year. 

In 2015, Veloso's execution was postponed at the last minute after the arrest in the Philippines of a woman suspected of recruiting her for drug-related activities.

READ: TIMELINE: Mary Jane Veloso, from OFW dreamer to death row inmate

Marcos, during Thursday's interview, mentioned that the Philippine government has been working on Veloso's case for years, noting that her sentence has been commuted from death to life imprisonment.

''As I said, we have been working on this, all the previous presidents, 'di lang ako (not only me)... ten years na ito. Ang nagawa natin napa-commute natin ang sentensiya niya from death sentence to life imprisonment tapos ang nasunod doon, napauwi na natin. We will have to decide what will happen next,'' he said.

(What we have done is we were able to have her sentence commuted from death to life imprisonment and send her home.)  

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega told GMA News Online that what Marcos meant was ''since Indonesia has agreed for the transfer of Mary Jane Veloso to the Philippines where we do not have the death penalty, Indonesia has therefore recognized that the Philippines can only implement life imprisonment.''

In a short statement sent to Palace reporters, the Department of Justice said that when Veloso is transferred to the Philippines, ''the effective result is that her sentence becomes simply life imprisonment since there is no death penalty in the Philippines.'' 

There had been calls to restore the death penalty in the Philippines but the proposals of some lawmakers had been languishing.

In an interview on Unang Balita on Thursday, Veloso's parents, Cesar and Celia, appealed to the Philippine government for her to be transferred to a safe local facility due to concerns over threats coming from the international drug syndicate that implicated her. 

PH-Indonesia ties

Marcos said Manila's relations with Jakarta has been good, noting that the Indonesian government has no plan to further detain and execute Veloso. He also reiterated his gratitude toward Indonesia for the development on Veloso's case.

''Mabuti na lang that our relations with Indonesia, our relations with then President Widodo and all of these people, together with our relations now with the new President, President Prabowo, dahil maganda naman ang ating relasyon, nakahanap sila – gumawa sila ng paraan, this is the first time they did this,'' Marcos said.

(It's good that our relations with Indonesia, our relations with then President Widodo and all of these people, together with our relations now with the new President, President Prabowo, our relations is good, they made this happen, this is the first time they did this.)

''Sabi nila wala naman silang interes na ikulong, wala naman silang interes na i-execute si Mary Jane Veloso. Ngunit – kaya naman sabi nila ay hanap na lang tayo ng paraan. And they did it for us,'' he added. 

(They said they have no intention to detain or execute Mary Jane Veloso. That's why they said let's just look for other ways.) 

''Kaya’t malaki dapat ang pasasalamat natin sa Indonesia. Malaki dapat ang pasasalamat natin sa ‘yung last President at ‘yung present President, President Widodo, President Prabowo ngayon, dahil kung hindi sa kanilang pagsang-ayon ay hindi natin nagawa ito,'' Marcos said.

(We should thank Indonesia, we should thank the last President, the current President, President Widodo and President Prabowo because if they did not agree, we will not be able to do this.) 

In a separate statement, Senate President Francis ''Chiz'' Escudero expressed confidence that Marcos would be granting clemency to Veloso. 

''I believe that PBBM will. However, it will have to go through the process, both legal and diplomatic, and with due courtesies to the Indonesian government. In the meantime, what's important is that she has been spared from the death penalty and the process is underway for her to be free ultimately,'' he said.—KBK/RSJ, GMA Integrated News