A scan of the handwritten letter of Mary Jane Veloso to Indonesian President Joko Widodo. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY MIGRANTE INTERNATIONAL
“Grant me a pardon from the death penalty.”
This was the appeal of doomed Filipina maid Mary Jane Veloso to Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a letter she wrote on April 16.
“I sincerely pray to be saved from the death penalty and to be given the opportunity to bring up my children,” Veloso wrote on her appeal.
Veloso wrote the letter in Filipino but was translated to English by Prof. Bomen Guillermo of University of the Philippines Diliman.
Here’s the content of her handwritten letter. RC
“To Honorable President Joko Widodo:
“I sincerely appeal to you, Honorable Sir, to grant me a pardon from the death penalty. I believe and am certain that you have a compassionate heart and are very wise to make a humane decision.
“As a mother, I have two children who are still small and need the love of a mother very much whom they love in return.
“Honorable Sir, I believe that as the father of your child, you can feel what it would be like if your child were in the position of my own children, it is surely very painful because it would take away the right of my children to be with their mother, if my plea for pardon is not granted.
“Honorable Sir, I believe that as the Father of the Indonesian Nation you should protect your children, above all those who are genuinely innocent.
“I sincerely pray to be saved from the death penalty and to be given the opportunity to bring up my children.
“May God always bless Honorable President Joko Widodo and his whole family.”
Wirogunan Correctional Facility
Jogjakarta
16 April 2015
SIGNED
Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso