Tagle’s plea to Indonesia: Give due process to Mary Jane Veloso
MANILA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle asked the Indonesian government led by President Jokowi Widodo to give overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso due process and respect her rights.
In an interview aired over Radyo Veritas on Monday, Tagle said that due process must not only be given to Veloso but to other OFWs.
“Our call is that Mary Jane (Veloso), like other prisoners facing charges, should be accorded the right to due process. Although we respect the laws of other countries, we are asking them to respect the rights of Mary Jane and other migrant workers and not deprive them of the right to due process,” Tagle said in Filipino.
The Manila Archbishop also asked OFWs to be cautious when traveling overseas and learn from Veloso’s experience.
“I urge fellow Filipinos traveling to other countries to take caution, most especially if someone asks you to bring something. Even if you know the person but do not know the contents of the package you are being asked to carry, do not accept it. Because if the package turns out to be illegal, you will be the one who will be arrested and jailed,” he said.
Veloso, a 30-year-old mother of two, is currently in the Indonesia’s death row after she was caught carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin worth $500,000 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2010.
Agus Salim, Veloso’s counsel, said that the domestic helper was not able to defend herself when she was arrested because authorities were interrogating her in Bahasa Indonesia and that during her trial, the court provided her a an unlicensed interpreter who translated the proceedings to English, which she doesn’t understand well.
President Widodo denied her clemency appeal in January 2015. Last March, the Indonesian court also thumbed down the request of Veloso’s camp for another review on her case citing that she was given an unreliable translator.
On its part, the Department of Foreign Affairs will exercise all legal remedies to appeal Veloso’s case again before the Indonesian court.
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