Now in PH jail, Veloso pleads with Marcos for clemency
Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino woman who has spent nearly 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking, asserted on Wednesday that she was innocent of the crime and again appealed to President Marcos to grant her executive clemency.
This time, she made the appeal back on Philippine soil, surrounded by tearful family members, supporters from civil society and government officials who facilitated her flight back to the country where she would continue to serve her life sentence.
“I’m very happy that I’m finally back in our country,” a visibly elated Veloso told the media at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) where she was immediately taken upon her arrival in Manila.
“My plea to President [Marcos] is for him to grant me clemency so I can be with my family. I’ve been in prison for [almost] 15 years in Indonesia for a crime I didn’t commit,” she added as she broke down in tears while standing with almost one dozen loved ones who came to see her on her first day back in the Philippines.
Veloso spent the first few hours of her homecoming settling into the CIW in Mandaluyong City, where she would stay pending the fulfillment of her wish.
Migrante International chair Joanna Concepcion said the “first thing” Veloso mentioned to them was her appeal for clemency. “That is why, hopefully, we can keep supporting her in the coming days. The fight is not yet over,” Concepcion said.
Migrante organized a “salubong” caravan for Veloso’s arrival with supporters and family members present. The caravan followed Veloso as she was transported to Mandaluyong from Ninoy Aquino International Airport inside a Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) vehicle.
Family members were unable to welcome her at the airport but they, including Veloso’s parents and two sons, were finally able to reunite inside CIW.
Trafficking victim
Veloso’s case, Mr. Marcos said earlier, has resonated with many Filipinos. “A mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life. While she was held accountable under Indonesian law, she remains a victim of her circumstances,” he said in November.
Despite being convicted in Jakarta in 2010 for drug smuggling, Veloso, 39, and her supporters maintain that she was a victim of human trafficking.
She was apprehended at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in April 2010 for allegedly possessing over 2.6 kilograms of heroin, which she claimed was concealed in her luggage without her knowledge. She was sentenced to death six months later.
Then President Benigno Aquino III appealed for her clemency in 2011 and saved her from the firing squad in 2015 although she remained on Indonesia’s death row.
In September 2022, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) again sought executive clemency for Veloso.
Last November, Mr. Marcos announced that Manila and Jakarta reached an agreement to transfer Veloso to the Philippines.
Justice undersecretary Raul Vasquez said that granting clemency to Veloso is “on the table” but this is still being studied by the Marcos administration.
“We should not lose sight of the fact na marami ding mga persons deprived of liberty who are equally entitled. The sick [for example]. The administration is going to thoroughly study this. But definitely it’s on the table,” Vasquez said.
“We have to count our blessings. Number one, we were able to reduce a death sentence to life. Second, we were able to bring her back with us. Third, bringing her back to us means that she would be subjected to all the rights, privileges of a person deprived of liberty, including possible executive clemency,” he added.
Willing to wait
Celia, Veloso’s mother, considers Veloso’s return as a “miracle” and is willing to wait for Marcos’ decision.
“What’s important is that she’s here now. She’s far from death. It’s not like in Indonesia, where we were nervous because if they decided, ‘Go ahead, execute her,’ they could do it. Here in the Philippines, there’s no death penalty, so my mind is more at ease here,” Celia said.
The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 1987.
The family has already made plans to spend Christmas in CIW where Veloso will spend the next 60 days for quarantine and initial security classification protocols.
The family did have concerns over her safety because one of her recruiters, Maria Cristina Sergio, is also an inmate in the maximum security compound of CIW, the same facility Veloso will be transferred to in two months.
But BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. assured that there are many ways to ensure the two will never meet.
“We can move this person [Sergio], to another designated facility in Palawan or in Davao,” he said.
Significant achievement
Mr. Marcos assured that the government would ensure Veloso’s safety.
“We assure the Filipino people that Ms. Veloso’s safety and welfare is paramount and our agencies in the justice and law enforcement sector shall continue to ensure it, as our Indonesian counterparts have safeguarded it for so long,” the President said in a statement on Wednesday.
He also expressed his gratitude to the Indonesian government for sparing Veloso from her death sentence and allowing her to return.
Indonesia, meanwhile, has yet to make a reciprocal request under the transfer agreement between Manila and Jakarta that facilitated Veloso’s homecoming.
“So just to make it clear, they haven’t made any request for us … When the time comes, if they make such a request, this situation—this grant of our request—would also be considered with great weight,” Vazquez said.
The DFA called Veloso’s prison transfer a “significant achievement” in the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Indonesia.
“This is … a mark of the trust and friendship between our two nations. We would, therefore, like to take this moment to reiterate our sincerest thanks to the Indonesian government for this humanitarian action. Their generosity has made this momentous day of Ms. Veloso’s return to the Philippines, possible,” Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a statement. —WITH REPORTS FROM MELVIN GASCON AND GILLIAN VILLANUEVA
