Protesters display placards during a rally at the Indonesian Embassy in the financial district of Makati city, east of Manila, Philippines, to appeal to the Indonesian government to spare the life of convicted Filipino drug trafficker Mary Jane Veloso Friday, April 24, 2015. AP
Filipino maid Mary Jane Veloso was reunited with her family on Indonesia’s so-called execution island of Nusakambangan on Saturday, three days before she was to be executed by firing squad for drug trafficking.
Speaking to reporters by telephone from Indonesia after the reunion, Veloso’s mother, Celia, said her daughter had received notification from the attorney general’s office that she would be executed on Tuesday, April 28.
READ: Veloso execution set on April 28, say ma, lawyers
Celia Veloso appealed to President Benigno Aquino III to save her daughter’s life.
“Mr. President, please do your duty as father of the nation. We need your help. Please save my daughter,” Celia Veloso said, adding that her daughter was innocent.
As the 72-hour countdown to her execution began, Mary Jane Veloso, 30, was allowed to see her family on Saturday in her cell on Nusakambangan.
READ: Veloso reunites with children, parents on execution island
On seeing her sons Mark Daniel, 11, and Mark Darren, 6, whom she last saw five years ago when she left the Philippines, Veloso hugged them, according to Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers and one of the lawyers for Veloso who joined the trip to Nusakambangan.
‘Be proud of me’
“If I die, you should be proud of me. Mama died because of what bad people did to her. Mama died with a pure heart,” Veloso told the boys, according to Olalia.
Olalia described Veloso as calm and composed as she met her family—parents Cesar and Celia, her sons and sister Marites—her lawyers and Philippine Embassy officials.
He said Veloso told her family not to be sad for her.
“The little boys were playful with the mom. Her mother and father [broke down] but they [later] regained their composure,” he said.
“I don’t like crying,” Olalia quoted Veloso as saying to her parents and children.
In a radio interview from Indonesia, Marites Veloso also said that her sister received the notice of execution yesterday afternoon. She said the execution had been set for Tuesday.
“We are asking for help from all of you. We need you now more than ever. Please pray for my sister,” Marites said.
Early Saturday, Veloso’s family received the order for her execution and those of nine other drug convicts, but the order did not indicate the date of the executions.
Agence France-Presse reported Saturday night that Veloso and two of the other convicts, Australians Myuran Sukurman and Andrew Chan, were given official notification by Indonesia that they would be executed, but with no given date.
“We received an order of execution but that does not mean she will be executed soon,” Olalia told dzMM radio from Jakarta.
“The date was not specified. It is not saying she will be executed soon,” Olalia said.
Under Indonesian law, death convicts are given 72 hours’ notice before their execution. The governments of foreign death convicts receive the same notice through their embassies in Jakarta.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila could not confirm as of press time last night that the 72-hour notice had been given to Veloso.
Earlier yesterday, Charles Jose, spokesperson for the DFA, confirmed reports that Veloso’s family had received the order of execution from the attorney general’s office.
No countdown yet
But the order, according to Jose, did not indicate when Veloso’s execution would be carried out.
“The attorney general’s office will announce it,” Jose said, adding that a 72-hour countdown to the execution had not yet begun.
The letter from the attorney general’s office, dated April 23, instructed prosecutors to prepare for the execution of 10 convicts, including Veloso.
The family of Veloso received the order in Cilacap, the port city in Central Java nearest to Nusakambangan where they arrived earlier and were waiting to be taken to the island for the reunion.
Veloso was transferred to the island from her prison cell in Jogjakarta on Friday, indicating that her execution for drug trafficking was imminent.
Malacañang also confirmed the order of execution on Saturday, but said President Aquino would try to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the 26th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to save Veloso.
Mr. Aquino leaves for Kuala Lumpur Sunday to attend the Asean summit.
READ: Aquino writes Widodo, Binay flies to Indonesia in bids to save Veloso
“[Saving Veloso] is one of the priority concerns of President Aquino if there is a chance for him to speak with President Widodo,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said.
In her radio interview, Marites said her sister made a few wishes during the family visit.
“She wanted me and my brother to be on the island on the day of the execution so [we could] pick up her body afterward,” Marites said.
Another sister, Darlene Veloso-Cando, who stayed home to continue pressing the government to do something to save Veloso, said she talked with Mary Jane by telephone from her cell in Jogjakarta early on Friday and she sounded to be losing hope that a miracle would save her.
Darlene said Mary Jane was fearful about her situation.
Gov’t appeal
“I felt her fear in her voice. She sounded nervous. That’s when I learned from her that she was about to be transferred to an island where she was to be executed,” Darlene said.
“Help me, please, because they are taking me to the island,” Darlene quoted Mary Jane as telling her.
Vice President Jejomar Binay returned from Indonesia yesterday after attending the Asia-Africa summit, during which he handed the Philippine government’s appeal to spare the life of Veloso to his Indonesian counterpart, Jusuf Kalla.
Binay called on Filipinos to pray harder for Veloso.
“Let us pray for her. Let us just pray harder because those I talked to, they understand, but some said there was an operation against drug [trafficking],” Binay told reporters at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Binay said he met with Indonesian Cabinet officials, including a “really high-ranking” official whose identity he did not disclose.
He said he had received no assurance from the officials, who could only relay the Philippine appeal to Widodo.
“You have to understand that the discretion will come from the (Indonesian) president,” Binay said.
The Philippine government filed a second appeal for judicial review of Veloso’s case in the Indonesian Supreme Court in Jakarta on Friday.
Also on Friday, the overseas workers’ organization Migrante International also filed a second appeal on Veloso’s behalf in Jogjakarta.
“There is a possibility that the execution will not be carried out until the case [is] concluded,” Olalia said on Saturday.
Veloso was arrested when authorities found 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase at Jogjakarta airport in 2009.
She was tried on charges of drug trafficking, convicted and sentenced to death.
Commutation of sentence
Lawyers for Veloso are arguing for the commutation of her death sentence to life imprisonment.
“The court was not able to prove that Mary Jane was a drug courier. She was in possession of illegal drugs without her consent, knowledge and the intention of smuggling, selling them,” Olalia said.
He said another ground for judicial review of the case was that Veloso was a victim of human trafficking, a claim backed by evidence from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which interviewed Veloso in Jogjakarta recently.
“Victims of human trafficking, according to international conventions being followed by several countries are mandated to be protected and not to be charged and punished. She should be brought back to the Philippines,” Olalia said.
Handwritten letters
In a statement issued Saturday night, the DFA said that during the visit to Nusakambangan, Veloso gave to DFA personnel four handwritten letters addressed to President Aquino, Binay, the Filipino youth and women, and those who wronged her.
In her letter to Mr. Aquino and Binay, Veloso reiterated her innocence and stressed that only they could save her.
She wrote that she knows Mr. Aquino, as the father of the nation, has not stopped in the efforts to save her from the death penalty.
She expressed her hope of achieving justice for what had happened to her.
In her letter to them, Veloso advised the youth not to involve themselves in drugs and other illegal activities as this could ruin their lives and education.
For her fellow women who want to work abroad, Veloso said they should follow the legal procedures and use legitimate employment agencies.
Veloso said she hoped those responsible for what happened to her will be bothered by their conscience. With reports from Nikko Dizon, Erika Sauler and Kristine Felisse Mangunay in Manila; Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon; and AFP
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