The Philippines has formally asked Indonesia for the transfer of convicted overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso to Philippine custody, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.
“We are waiting for Indonesia’s formal reply to our formal request sent through DOJ,” said DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega in a message.
“If approved, both countries will discuss the mechanics of the transfer,” he added. “We hope and pray for the best.”
The latest move by the Philippines came after Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correction (Kemenko Kumham Imipas) said it was currently considering the option of “transfer of prisoner” or prisoner transfer for foreign inmates, including Veloso, as part of constructive diplomacy.
The Indonesian government office said this was discussed in a meeting with Philippine Ambassador Gina Alagon Jamoralin where Coordinating Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra stressed that Indonesia was upholding legal sovereignty and was committed to enforcing the sanctions imposed by the courts.
“If the request is granted, Mary Jane Veloso will continue to serve her remaining sentence in the Philippines, subject to the conditions determined by the Indonesian court’s ruling,” the press statement read.
Veloso, 39, is on death row for drug trafficking after she was caught with 2.6 kilos of heroin in Yogyakarta in 2010.
In January, Veloso’s family sent letters to then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appeal her clemency.
She reunited with her family after five years last June 2023 after they visited her in Yogyakarta.
In 2015, then Indonesian President Joko Widodo said their government gave Veloso a ”temporary reprieve” from her scheduled execution in relation to alleged human trafficking.
Meanwhile, a human trafficking case and large-scale illegal recruitment cases were filed against Veloso’s traffickers Julius Lacanilao and Cristina Sergio in the Regional Trial Court of Nueva Ecjia.
In 2020, a guilty verdict on the illegal recruitment case was handed down on the recruiters but the trafficking case is still pending. —NB, GMA Integrated News
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