Mary Jane Veloso moved to execution island

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

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