President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. acknowledged the request for executive clemency of Mary Jane Veloso and her family, but said he is not inclined to rush it and would rather consult legal experts before making a decision on the matter.
“Ang layo pa. Malayo pa tayo doon (It’s still far away. We’re still far from it). We still have to have a look at, really, what the status (of her case is),” he told reporters at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City on Thursday after attending the Philippine Air Force (PAF) leadership change ceremony.
President Marcos explained that Veloso’s case remains under preliminary review and that determining whether clemency is appropriate could take time, even as the Indonesian government did not impose any conditions in allowing her transfer to the Philippines.
“We’re aware of the request for clemency from her representatives, of course, and from her family… And we will leave it to the legal judgment of our legal experts to determine whether the provision of clemency is appropriate,” he said.
Veloso arrived in the Philippines on Wednesday morning, expressing hope that President Marcos would eventually grant her clemency. She reiterated she was not guilty of drug trafficking charges, echoing the perspective of human rights advocates that she was a victim of human trafficking.
The 39-year-old mother of two was sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2010 after authorities discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. She received a last-minute reprieve in April 2015 after the Philippines informed Indonesia that her recruiters had surrendered to local authorities.
