Labuan Bajo, Indonesia — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is asking the Indonesian government again to grant executive clemency to Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who has spent 13 years in jail as a convicted drug mule.
Upon his arrival at Labuan Bajo, Indonesia on Tuesday ahead of the ASEAN Summit, President Marcos told Philippine media members he would open up the issue of Veloso to his Indonesian counterpart, President Joko Widodo.
“We continue to ask for a commutation or even a pardon, or even an extradition back to the Philippines (for Veloso),” Mr. Marcos said.
The President said he is still hoping that Indonesia will grant his request to release Veloso.
“They’ve already given us many postponements, but that doesn’t mean it’s done, I always at least bring it up. Maybe it will make a difference on their stance,” Mr. Marcos said
“We understand that the law of Indonesia (prevails) but nonetheless, maybe we can find a way to bring her home, and we will be the one who will sentence her in whatever or any way to ask (Jakarta) for clemency, ask for grace,” he added.
Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in April 2010 for smuggling 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin in a suitcase. Her case, among others, sparked international attention toward Indonesia’s capital punishment and drug prohibition laws.
Throughout her trial, Veloso maintained her innocence, claiming she was duped into carrying the suitcase by her godsister, Maria Kristina Sergio, who convinced her to go to Indonesia after losing a job in Malaysia.
Her Indonesian lawyer, Agus Salim, noted that Veloso did not have any lawyer or Tagalog translator during her interrogation, and during her sentencing, she was represented by a public defender, but her courtroom interpreter was not licensed.
Veloso was sentenced to death by the presiding judge in October 2010 in Yogyakarta’s Sleman District Court, even though the prosecutor’s verdict was a life sentence. Even so, she was spared due to a moratorium on capital punishment enacted by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
She was again scheduled to be executed in January 2015 after the election of Joko Widodo as President of Indonesia. But at midnight on April 29, 2015, Veloso was granted a stay of execution so she could act as a witness during the trial of her alleged human trafficker.
Veloso was reprieved after reports that her trafficker had surrendered to the police, which had prompted Former President Benigno Aquino III to make a final appeal for clemency on the basis that her testimony could be invaluable in the prosecuting her alleged recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio.