Velosos home with KO punch at Aquino

By: Erika Sauler and Nikko Dizon - 9 years ago

The family of Mary Jane Veloso returned home from Indonesia on Friday with scathing criticism of the government’s alleged mishandling of her case.

Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother, said President Benigno Aquino III should not be credited for the 11th-hour reprieve that saved her daughter from death by firing squad in Indonesia on Wednesday.

President Aquino said his administration did everything it could to save Mary Jane Veloso.

READ: Veloso mom denies Aquino gov’t role in Mary Jane’s execution reprieve

READ: Aquino to critics: Let’s work together to help Veloso

Aquino: We’ll continue to help

In a text message to the Inquirer, Mr. Aquino said he would continue working to help Veloso and her family.

“We did what we could. We were not involved in the creation of the problem. You must remember she was arrested, if I’m not mistaken, in April of 2010,” Mr. Aquino told reporters in Naga City, Cebu province, after the inauguration of an expansion project of cement manufacturer Cemex Philippines.

Mr. Aquino was elected in May 2010. He took over from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a month later.

The family expressed hope that the Indonesian government would commute Mary Jane’s death sentence or free her after her alleged recruiter turned herself in to authorities on Monday.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo stayed Mary Jane Veloso’s execution after President Aquino asked him during a Southeast Asian leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday that she be made a witness against a human trafficking ring that duped her into smuggling drugs.

Veloso was caught with 2.6 kilos of heroin in her suitcase at Yogyakarta airport in 2010. She claims the heroin was sewn into her suitcase lining without her knowledge.

The government transported Veloso’s family—Celia, her father Cesar, sons Mark Daniel and Mark Darren, sisters Maritess and Darling, and her estranged husband Michael Candelaria—to Indonesia last week so they could see her before she was executed.

After the crisis, they returned on a Philippine Airlines flight at 6 a.m. Friday together with their lawyer Edre Olalia, Connie Bragas-Regalado and Pam Pangilinan of the migrants’ group Migrante International and two representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) who helped them through their Indonesian ordeal.

Members of Migrante International met the Velosos at the airport and whisked them away, bringing them to their office in Quezon City for a news conference.

“We’ve returned home for payback… This is not about money. The government owes us because they tricked us,” 55-year-old Celia Veloso, wearing a “Save Mary Jane” T-shirt, told reporters.

In an apparent reference to President Aquino, she said: “He is telling the whole world that he helped save my daughter’s life. That is not true. Get ready, we are here to collect your debts. We will fight you.”

Veloso’s sister Marites said the government failed to give Mary Jane a capable interpreter during her trial.

“Had the government not been remiss, my sister would not have been in trouble,” she said.

Who gets credit not issue Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte denied the charge, saying that as early as 2011, President Aquino asked then Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for clemency for Veloso.

Mr. Aquino also asked Widodo for clemency and a review of Veloso’s case twice, Valte said.

“The records will bear out the President’s actions very clearly. It is not an issue of who gets credit, but more importantly, Mary Jane was able to get a reprieve,” she said.

Marites Veloso said that she lighted 20 candles in the port city of Cilacap on Tuesday night during a vigil for Mary Jane, who was to be executed at 2 a.m. Wednesday.

She said she did not know that the execution had been stayed.

“It angers me that Consul General Roberto Manalo let me suffer from anguish when he knew that the execution had been postponed,” she said.

There was no immediate comment from the DFA on Friday.

Celia thanked all the groups and people who helped her family during the ordeal, including boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, who appealed to Widodo on Tuesday to spare Veloso’s life.

READ: Pacquiao asks Indonesia to spare Veloso’s life

“I thank the media for making our plight known to Migrante. I thank the Church, the international groups. If not for your help, I would have lost my youngest daughter. The whole family is grateful to all of you,” Celia Veloso said.

What more can be done?

In Cebu, reporters asked President Aquino if he was sure the government extended all help to Veloso.

“Why don’t I throw it back to you,” he said. “What more can the government do?”

The President enumerated some of the actions the government took for Veloso and her family, “from the [legal help] that [was] provided, from the intercessions done through President Widodo, through foreign ministers, through the [Indonesian] attorney general, as well as the bringing of the entire family there [Indonesia].”

Mr. Aquino emphasized that the Philippine government was bent on prosecuting those who have violated the law in Veloso’s case, referring to her suspected recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, who may have links to an international drug syndicate.

“We might be able to capture them or other members of the syndicate. And if Mary Jane becomes very, very helpful? in the process, well, that might be a basis for extending some clemency,” Mr. Aquino said.

Very serious problem

The President said the illegal drug trade was a “very serious problem, not only for Indonesia” but also for the Philippines.

“They [Indonesians] quote the numbers as very severe. They keep using the phrase that they are in an emergency situation,” he said.

Mr. Aquino had told the Indonesian authorities that the drug syndicate could be busted if Veloso was kept alive to testify against it. This would help curb the drug menace in both the Philippines and Indonesia.

Sergio is under police custody after she sought protection, citing death threats.

The Department of Justice is studying whether a human trafficking and fraud complaint against her would merit filing in court.

“We owe it to the Indonesian government to undertake and complete the investigation as soon as possible,” Charles Jose, spokesperson for the DFA, said earlier this week.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Jose said the Philippines may again seek clemency for Veloso.

The President declined to comment on the allegations made by Veloso’s mother.

The Veloso family, assisted by groups that have always been critical of the government, apparently refused to accept President Aquino’s proposal to make Mary Jane a witness against the drug syndicate that duped her into smuggling drugs into Indonesia.

“I don’t know if this comment was said, whether or not that comment is in reference to what happened then, at the start of what has transpired now. Unfortunately, I cannot comment intelligently on something that I was not a witness to. Perhaps I should look for a copy of that statement,” the President said.

Next step

The National Union of People’s Lawyers, which represents Veloso in the Philippines said yesterday that it would coordinate with her Indonesian lawyers to determine their next step after the reprieve.

Veloso was granted a reprieve to enable her to testify against Sergio, but it was not clear up to what stage of the proceedings it would apply, Olalia said.

“Will the resolution of the preliminary investigation suffice or do we need a conviction?” he said.

Olalia said Veloso’s camp would use the result of the preliminary investigation for a third appeal and to seek clemency from Widodo.

Migrante chair Garry Martinez said “heads should roll” for the neglect suffered by Veloso.

He said the cases of other Filipinos sitting on death row abroad should be disclosed “so that we wouldn’t have to race against time to save” them. With reports from Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Rima Granali and AFP