Lawyers still await Veloso Bahasa affidavit from gov’t

LAWYERS of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino sentenced to death in Indonesia, is still waiting for the Philippine government’s promise to provide them with a Bahasa affidavit of Veloso that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) obtained that narrated how she fell victim to a drug trafficking syndicate.

The affidavit will be used by her lawyer in the filing a second judicial review on the ground of a “newly discovered evidence” in an attempt to save her from firing squad.

“Now, the Indonesian attorneys are very receptive to the human trafficking vis-a-vis drug trafficking intersection. The laws and convention on trafficking mandates Mary Jane must be protected and not punished and must be expatriated to the Philippines,” Atty. Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said Thursday in a statement.

NUPL is an organization of human rights lawyers which Veloso’s family approached early this month in a last ditch effort to save Mary Jane. A team lead by Olalia is in Indonesia to help their counterpart to save Veloso.

“The Indonesia lawyers are still waiting for this Bahasa-translated affidavit of Mary Jane which was promised by the Philippine embassy because they are the ones authorized to do so,” Olalia said.

However, Olalia said a pending judicial review does not automatically mean a stay or stop of execution.

“So, in short, whether a second judicial review is submitted on Monday or not, and whether the [Indonesian] Supreme Court grants it or not eventually, the implementation of the sentence can be done between this Sunday theoretically or as long as six months after the submission of the second judicial review because it is a political decision, not a judicial act,” Olalia said.

Veloso was arrested by the Customs and Excise Authorities at the Audisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia for possession of 2.6 kilograms of heroin.

After six months, she was convicted by the District Court in Yogyakarta of drug trafficking and was sentenced to death. The Supreme Court in Indonesia affirmed her case in 2011.

Up to 2012, however, the government is clueless on veracity of reports that a Filipino was convicted to death in Indonesia.

NUPL said the Philippine government has given Veloso legal assistance only after her death sentence was affirmed by the Indonesian Supreme Court.

READ: Lawyers hit gov’t for lack of assistance to Veloso

Olalia said it also took the Philippines three years and eight months to seek judicial review of Veloso’s case. AC