Supporters display placards outside the Indonesian Embassy at the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines during a picket Wednesday, April 8, 2015 to ask for clemency for convicted drug trafficker Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso. AP FILE PHOTO
Malacañang is not yet giving up on the case of the female Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who is set to be executed in Indonesia over drug trafficking charges.
“Not at this time,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said Tuesday when asked if the government has lost hope that Mary Jane Veloso will be saved from death row.
READ: Indonesian court rejects death row Filipina’s appeal
“We will continue all our efforts to try to appeal for her life to be spared,” she added.
Veloso is among the foreign inmates in Indonesia who are set to face the firing squad. She was arrested at Yogyakarta airport after 2.6 kilograms of heroin was found hidden in her luggage.
The undersecretary said that all legal means still need to be exhausted.
“Our embassy officials will continue to extend assistance as we have been doing in the past,” she said.
Valte mentioned that Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is also the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers’ concerns, is personally going to Indonesia to meet with Veloso.
READ: Binay to make final appeal to spare Veloso’s life | Binay to meet death row’s Veloso in prison
She also dismissed accusations that the government has not done enough for Filipinos like Veloso facing cases in other countries.
“Even before this particular case hit newspapers or hit media, we have already started the assistance, counsel and legal assistance to Mary Jane,” she said.
READ: Lawyers hit gov’t for lack of assistance to Veloso
She said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has already visited Veloso to get information on the possibility that she was victimized by a drug trafficking syndicate.
“The PDEA is already in possession of some information and they are already acting on it,” Valte said.
READ: Finding Veloso’s recruiter part of gov’t efforts to bolster her appeal—Palace | Mary Jane Veloso kin want recruiter arrested