House resolution seeks clemency for Mary Jane Veloso
Drug convict Mary Jane Veloso (center) attends a ceremony at a prison in Yogyakarta on 9 November 2015. Veloso is expected to return home before Christmas.
KOKO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Daily TribuneDrug convict Mary Jane Veloso (center) attends a ceremony at a prison in Yogyakarta on 9 November 2015. Veloso is expected to return home before Christmas.
KOKO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Opposition lawmakers filed a resolution on Wednesday nudging President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to grant clemency to Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina convicted and sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking, ahead of her imminent return to the Philippines.
The resolution seeks to mandate the House of Representatives to initiate negotiations with the President upon Veloso’s arrival.
Proponents—Reps. Arlene Brosas, France Castro, and Raoul Manuel—said that an absolute pardon for Veloso has long been overdue. They stand with her supporters who believe she is merely a “victim of her circumstances,” as Marcos would say.
“Mary Jane has already suffered enough by being deprived of liberty for 14 years and by missing out on seeing her children grow up,” the resolution reads. “The grant of clemency to Mary Jane has been a long time coming, considering she is a victim of human trafficking and is not a drug mule.”
Veloso’s parents, who are set to visit her in Indonesia next week ahead of her repatriation this month, were present during the filing.
The 39-year-old migrant worker from Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, was arrested in 2010 and placed on death row in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after authorities discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase.
She was scheduled to be executed by firing squad in April 2015 but was spared at the last minute following then-President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s appeal for her to testify against her recruiters, including her god sister, Maria Kristina Sergio, who was involved in an international drug syndicate and framed her as a drug mule.
After a decade-long negotiation, Marcos and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto reached a consensus on Veloso’s repatriation. She will serve the remainder of her sentence in the Philippines, with a highly possible clemency.
The Indonesian government has made it clear that it will defer to the Philippines whether to grant Veloso a pardon.
Marcos has remained tight-lipped about such discussions, but lawmakers are optimistic that Veloso could qualify for executive clemency.
Veloso’s case, which sparked international outcry, has become a symbol of resilience and the fight against human and drug trafficking. She has expressed elation over her looming repatriation to the Philippines after 14 long years behind bars.