October 21, 2024 | 5:18pm
MANILA, Philippines — Calls are mounting for the Philippine government to press for Mary Jane Veloso’s clemency anew after Indonesia swore in a new president last week for the first time in a decade.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday, October 20 — an event that lawyer Edre Olalia said should prompt the president to seek Veloso’s release from Indonesia’s new leaders based on humanitarian grounds.
Veloso was jailed, and then later sentenced to death, after being unwittingly duped into carrying drugs at an Indonesian airport in 2010. Five years later, she was spared from execution at the eleventh hour after then-President Benigno Aquino III made a direct appeal to then-President Joko Widodo.
“On the part of the Philippine government, I think it’s a good time to renew the call for any form of clemency for our distressed kababayan who has been in jail since 2010,” said Olalia, who is among Veloso’s lawyers in the Philippines.
“That’s a long time already given that she — on the basis of the facts in our — is a victim of human trafficking. She deserves to go home,” Olalia told Philstar.com.
Veloso’s case in Indonesia is technically terminated as her plea has been denied, Olalia said, which is why the campaign for her clemency is “grounded more for the greater reason of humanitarian considerations and not so much on legal grounds.”
The human rights lawyer emphasized that Marcos and Prabowo, both heads of state, have the capacity to resolve the matter politically. “A lot of things that are traditionally and customarily are difficult to attain in the legal venues can be resolved in the political sphere,” he added.
In January, Widodo vowed to reexamine the case of Veloso after a direct appeal from Marcos during the Indonesian leader’s three-day visit to Manila.
However, the Philippines was also told that the Indonesian government was “waiting for the decision of the Philippine court” on a case filed against Veloso’s recruiters, which served as the basis for Indonesia to suspend Veloso’s execution in 2015.
This marked the Philippines’ last publicly reported high-level attempt to convince Widodo to free Veloso, who human rights groups insist is ultimately a victim of human trafficking and was deprived of her right to a fair trial.
In March 2023, Widodo granted a rare pardon to a domestic worker jailed for two decades on drug smuggling charges, sparking renewed hope for Veloso’s case.
Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was sworn in as vice president also on Sunday.
Slow progress. For migrant workers’ group Migrante International, Veloso and her family have been wronged by the painstakingly slow progress on the human trafficking and illegal recruitment case against Veloso’s recruiters in the Philippines, which were initiated nine years ago.
In a separate case, recruiters Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao were found guilty by a Nueva Ecija court of large-scale illegal recruitment of three other women in 2019. They were sentenced to life imprisonment.
“The Marcos Jr. administration must do away with its sluggishness and delays that are tantamount to years of denying justice for Mary Jane,” said Joanna Concepcion, chairperson of Migrante International.
“In future talks with Prabowo, the [Philippine] government must demonstrate a sense of urgency and political will to secure Mary Jane’s freedom and bring her home to her family,” Concepcion told Philstar.com.
Olalia said they are waiting for the court and the Philippine justice and foreign affairs departments to finalize with their Indonesian counterparts the schedule for taking Veloso’s deposition from Indonesia.
“That is the remaining element in the large-scale human trafficking, estafa and large-scale illegal recruitment [case] in Nueva Ecija… It’s just a matter of locking in the exact date,” Olalia said.
The lawyer said Veloso’s private prosecutors and the Department of Justice have “very good coordination” on Veloso’s case.
It has been four years since the Supreme Court ruled with finality to allow Veloso to testify against her recruiters through a deposition observed by a local judge.
Prabowo’s time. Concepcion expressed hope that Prabowo — a former military general accused of rights abuses — would “demonstrate compassion and wisdom” and “set an example of commitment to combating human trafficking” in Southeast Asia by granting Veloso’s release.
Rep. Marissa Magsino (OFW Partylist) also hopes the new Indonesian leader will be open to dialogue and cooperation regarding Veloso’s case.
“I respectfully urge your government to take into account the deeper context—the reasons, the full story, and the facts surrounding Mary Jane’s case,” Magsino said in a statement sent to Philstar.com.
“She should not be left to carry the burden of proving her innocence or face these dire consequences on her own,” she added.
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