New Indonesian President Prabowo urged to look into Mary Jane Veloso case

OFW party-list Representative Marissa Magsino on Sunday urged new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to look into the case of Overseas Filipino Worker Mary Jane Veloso, who was convicted and sentenced to death for drug trafficking in 2010.

“Sa bagong liderato ng Indonesia, sana po mapakinggan niyo po, malaman niyo naman po sana on the other, side kung ano ba ang dahilan, ano po yung tunay na pangyayari, ano yung true facts tungkol dito kay Mary Jane,” Magsino said during a press conference.

“Sa ganoon huwag naman ma-solo niya itong burden ng proof ng kanyang innocence at huwag naman ma solo yung parusa na harinawa po, magawan ng paraan,” she added.

(To the new leader of Indonesia, I hope you can listen, I hope you learn what is on the other side, the reason, the real incident, the facts about Mary Jane so that she will not carry the burden of proving her innocence alone and carry the punishment alone, which I also hope can be worked out.)

In January, Veloso’s family sent letters to then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appeal her clemency.

Last June, the 39-year old Veloso was reunited with her family in Indonesia after five years.

“Napaka bata pa po niya, meron pa siya future with her family. Sana naman po mabigyan ng panibagong buhay, bagong pag-asa si Mary Jane. We will be looking forward and praying na kung ano man yung justice na nararapat sa kanya ay maibigay po natin dito sa bagong liderato ng Indonesia,” Magsino said.

(She is so young. She still has a future with her family. I hope that Mary Jane will be given a new life, a new hope. I will be looking forward and praying that the new leader of Indonesia will give the justice Mary Jane deserves.)

In 2015, 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.

On Sunday, Prabowo was sworn president of Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy.

Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos were present at the inauguration in Jakarta.
—RF, GMA Integrated News