DFA: Mary Jane Veloso 'hopes' to return home by Christmas

Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Indonesia, could return to the Philippines by Christmas, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday.

“Even though it's not finalized yet, let's pray that it will be finished by Christmas and that Mary Jane will be home… We pray that it will be a complete success and that it won't be long before happen, I have no promises, but I hope it will happen by Christmas,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said in an interview with Radyo Pilipinas.

(Although it is not finalized yet, let's pray that it will be finished by Christmas and Mary Jane can return to the Philippines… We pray that it will be a complete success and not delayed .I don't promise anything but I hope she will be back in the Philippines by Christmas.)

De Vega said the Philippines contacted Indonesia several months ago about Veloso's case, which was a new start for its relations with new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced earlier in the day that an agreement had been reached with Indonesian authorities to bring Veloso, arrested in 2010, back to the Philippines.

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

Transfer

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

“All it takes is a formal request from our Ministry of Justice, which has already been submitted,” he said.

“So we're just waiting for Indonesia's final decision so we can sit down with them to find out the details, because when we go home it looks like he's being detained here, but how can we have a chance to get him possibly release?,” he added.

(So ​​we are just waiting for Indonesia's final decision so we can sit down with them to figure out the details because apparently the deal is that she will be our detainee when she returns, but how can we have a chance of possibly release?)

Considering that the Philippines does not impose the death penalty, De Vega noted that Veloso will not be executed and may even benefit from Marcos' pardon.

“Indonesia also seems willing, but we do not yet have the last word: when the president is transferred to us, perhaps after a while, he will not immediately grant pardon, because he has been in prison for a long time and he is a victim,” he said.

(Indonesia also seems willing, but we do not have the final say yet, that when she is already transferred to us, our president can grant her pardon, but after a while, not immediately, because she is in prison for a long time and is a victim.)

Conviction

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

Since then, she has maintained her innocence, claiming that she was only a victim of human trafficking.

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

In 2015, then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his government had granted Veloso a “temporary reprieve” from his planned execution over allegations of human trafficking.

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

In 2020, a guilty verdict in the illegal recruitment case was handed down against 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. asking for clemency.

–VAL, GMA Integrated News