SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday commended Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Istanbul consul general Shirlene Mananquil for her efforts to convince the Indonesian government to send home Mary Jane Veloso and serve her sentence in the Philippines.
During the meeting of the Commission on Appointments’ Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss the interim appointment of Mananquil and other foreign affairs officials, Hontiveros highlighted the contributions of the appointee to the success of government efforts to negotiate for Veloso’s repatriation.
“I think the team effort you all made back then is why Mary Jane Veloso is still alive today and is now able to go home, which is a prime example of what we often refer to as a whole of government approach. So once again, thank you very much and long live to you,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.
Veloso was arrested in 2010, at an Indonesian airport for carrying a suitcase filled with 2.6 kilograms of heroin. In October of same year, she was sentenced to death by firing squad.
The execution was halted in 2015 after Philippine authorities detained a woman believed to have recruited Veloso for drug trafficking.
