Mary Jane Veloso moved to execution island

By: 10 years ago

DEATH CARRIAGE Police officers stand guard as a detention car believed to be carrying death row prisoner Mary Jane Veloso, along with nine other foreigners, arrives at Wijaya Pura ferry port to cross to the prison island of Nusakambangan in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia, early Friday. Veloso (inset) is the only woman among 10 foreign drug offenders facing imminent execution by firing squad despite international appeals and fury for clemency. AFP

The countdown appears to have started for the execution for drug trafficking of Filipino maid Mary Jane Veloso in Indonesia with her transfer early Friday from death row in Jogjakarta to the last-mile island of Nusakambangan off Central Java.

Veloso’s transfer to Nusakambangan caught the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) by surprise, DFA spokesperson Charles Jose told reporters on Friday.

READ: PH execs express hope for Veloso following her transfer to execution island /

Indonesia orders execution of Veloso, 9 others

Nusakambangan is a penal island off the port of Cilacap where death row prisoners are taken for execution.

“The lawyers and the Philippine Embassy were not notified about the transfer in advance,” Jose said.

Diplomats from other countries involved said they had not been informed of when the group would be executed, but the steps under way suggested that an announcement was imminent.

‘Things moving fast’

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Jesus Yabes said “things are moving fast” for Veloso and that the Philippines was not used to Indonesia’s strict stance on capital punishment, particularly involving foreigners.

Veloso, together with nine other convicted drug traffickers from Australia, Brazil, France, Nigeria and Ghana, was taken to the penal island at 2 a.m. Friday an hour after her mother, Celia, and two children—Mark Darren, 6, and Mark Daniel, 11—arrived in Jakarta to see her.

‘Bali 9’

Veloso, 30, is the only woman among the 10 convicts set to face a firing squad. The other convicts are collectively known as the “Bali Nine,” as they operated out of the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Indonesia also asked the embassies of the five countries to send representatives to Nusakambangan by Saturday, indicating that the executions were imminent, although an official 72-hour notice of execution had not been given yet, diplomats in Jakarta said yesterday.

Those countries are appealing to Indonesia for mercy for the convicts, but the Indonesian Supreme Court and President Joko Widodo have denied the appeals.

The head of an international migrants organization working to save Veloso on Friday confirmed her transfer to Nusakambangan.

Garry Martinez, head of Migrante International, said Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers who left for Indonesia last week to help get a judicial review of Veloso’s drug-trafficking case, sent word by text message at 9 a.m. Friday about the maid’s transfer to Nusakambangan.

“But a transfer is just a transfer,” Martinez said, adding that Indonesia had not given the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta any “notice of execution.”

Quoting from Olalia’s text message, Martinez said that only after the Philippine Embassy has received a notice will the 72-hour countdown to execution begin.

Jose, who confirmed that the Philippine Embassy had not yet received a notice of execution, also said Veloso’s transfer did not mean she was about to be executed, as the Philippines was seeking a second appeal for judicial review of the maid’s case.

“Now that we have filed the second appeal, we hope that the Indonesian government will take this up first,” Jose said.

Second appeal

Veloso’s lawyers filed the second appeal in the Supreme Court Friday morning, arguing that she is a victim of human trafficking and should be protected, Jose said.

The first appeal questioned the accuracy of the translation in the court proceedings in her case, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court.

Submitted with the second appeal was the copy of the report of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that Veloso was a victim of an illegal job recruiter identified as Maria Cristina Sergio, her godsister.

READ: Charges filed vs recruiter of Filipina on Indonesia death row

Veloso’s new defense claims Sergio, working with an international crime gang, had secretly stashed heroin in her suitcase. The drugs were found by authorities at Jogjakarta airport as she arrived there in 2009.

Veloso was arrested and charged with drug trafficking. She was convicted and sentenced to death in 2010.

In a television interview on Thursday, Sergio denied she was an illegal job recruiter.

She also denied having anything to do with Veloso’s trip to Indonesia.

Jose said PDEA agents who traveled to Jogjakarta to interview Veloso and investigate her case recently filed charges of illegal recruitment, human trafficking and estafa against Sergio in the Department of Justice.

He explained that the objective of the judicial review is not to determine guilt or innocence but decide whether the death penalty imposed on Veloso is appropriate.

Jose said the DFA was making arrangements for Veloso’s family to see her on Nusakambangan as soon as possible.

READ: Filipina maid’s family prays for divine, gov’t intervention

Migrante appeal

Martinez said Migrante also filed a second appeal for judicial review. Quoting from Olalia’s text message, he said the appeal was filed in district court in Jogjakarta at 3:50 p.m. Friday.

In a telephone interview, Olalia said the petition for review was based on two grounds.

The first, he said, is that it has not been established that Veloso is a drug trafficker, and that “the most that can be established is that she was in possession of heroin, without her knowledge and consent.”

“She did not buy it or [was selling] it,” Olalia said.

The penalty for drug possession, he said, should not be death but life imprisonment.

The second ground, he said, is that Veloso is a “victim of human trafficking.”

Asked if Indonesia could send the notice of execution over the weekend, Olalia said, “That is what we have to check.”

“But theoretically, I don’t see any reason why not,” he said.

Fury abroad

The Indonesian government has stuck to its hard line that the drug convicts must be executed, even if last-gasp legal maneuvers are still pending, provoking fury abroad.

France on Thursday accused Indonesia of “serious dysfunction” in its legal system that led to Frenchman Serge Atlaoui being sentenced to death, and said his execution would be “incomprehensible.”

Australia has pleaded repeatedly for clemency of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukurman, two Australians arrested as ringleaders of the Bali Nine drug-smuggling group.

A lawyer for the two Australians said a letter of instruction had been sent from the offfice of the Indonesian attorney general to those responsible for carrying out the executions.

He said it would be “a travesty” if they were executed while legal avenues were still being pursued.

“These developments are very concerning,” the Melbourne-based lawyer, Michael O’Connell, said.

“In effect, this letter of instruction is a step toward the execution of 10 people . . . in the near future,” he said.

Drug laws in Indonesia are among the world’s toughest and Widodo, who took office in October, says the country is facing a narcotics emergency that requires the ultimate sanction for convicts.

Veloso’s plight has been keenly felt in the Philippines, where around 100 protesters carrying “Save the life of Mary Jane” signs in Bahasa Indonesia picketed Jakarta’s embassy in Manila on Thursday.

“As you know, our Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors [are] not known for executing foreign nationals. We are a little bit surprised by the sudden change of policy. They have a new government. There is a sudden change of policy,” Yabes said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, President Aquino’s adviser on migrant workers’ affairs, is in Indonesia to attend the Asia-Africa summit.

READ: Palace not giving up on Mary Jane Veloso

Appeal for compassion

He said he met with his Indonesian counterpart, Jusuf Kalla, on Thursday and handed him a written appeal for the life of Veloso.

“I appeal to you on considerations of compassion, and assure you that the Philippine government is exhausting all avenues to ensure that proper justice is served to those responsible for deceiving Mary Jane into having brought the drugs into Indonesia,” Binay said, quoting from the Philippine appeal.

Binay said Veloso came from a poor family and attained only basic education. She is the single mother of two boys, he said.

“She became the target of a neighbor by the name of Maria Cristina Sergio, who offered her work as a household worker in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mary Jane happily accepted, as her only intention was to work overseas in order to earn enough to provide a better future for her two children, who depend solely [on] her for support,” Binay said.

“If indeed Mary Jane had been working as a drug mule, surely her family would have felt the benefits of the illicit trade, and would not be in such dire financial straits up to the present,” he said.

“I merely ask that the penalty of death not be implemented on a woman, a single mother, and clearly an unwitting and unwilling victim of merciless drug trafficking syndicates,” he said.

Since the execution by hanging of domestic helper Flor Contemplacion in Singapore in 1995, no Filipino convict has been executed in Southeast Asia. With reports from Kristine Felisse Mangunay, AFP