Help Mary Jane Veloso by helping other Filipinos on death row, urges DFA

In the wake of the angry recriminations from the family of Mary Jane Veloso on the government’s handling of the convicted Filipino’s case, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) called on the public to focus instead on helping the many Filipinos who remain on death row in foreign countries instead of resorting to fingerpointing.

“We believe that focusing on this most important objective will help Mary Jane more at this time,” the DFA said in a statement issued on Friday in reaction to the Veloso family’s attack against the government, which it accused of neglecting the case and letting their daughter languish in jail for five years and face a death sentence for drug crimes.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs had consistently been updating the public on the Philippine government’s efforts, from providing legal assistance, undertaking representations at the highest levels of the Indonesian government to coordinating prison visits of Mary Jane’s family, including covering their cost of travel,” the DFA said.

Mary Jane, a 30-year-old mother of two, remains in Yogyakarta prison after being granted a last-minute reprieve that saved her from execution last week.

The government has promised to work on another clemency appeal while the investigation into the charges against her recruiter is under way.

“We are committed to pursuing the complaints filed against Mary Jane’s recruiter as this was vital in securing the reprieve of Mary Jane,” said DFA spokesperson Charles Jose.

But any jubilation over the stay in Veloso’s execution was shortlived as Veloso’s mother, Celia, upon her return from Indonesia the other day, immediately launched into a diatribe against President Aquino for allegedly grabbing credit for securing the reprieve.

Celia’s statements against the President and the government triggered indignation among netizens who called her an “ingrate.” (See related story on this page.)

Edre Olalia, the Velosos’ lawyer, said in a phone interview that the public should put into perspective Celia’s outburst.

Olalia said the Veloso family had been seeking the government’s help for five years and felt it had failed them for the most part.

He said there was no “maleficent motivation” by the leftist groups who were behind Celia’s statements against the President and his administration.

“A principled criticism of what our government does or does not do should not prevent them from doing what they should. We want to cull lessons from what went wrong and how mistakes could be rectified,” Olalia said.

Olalia said that as the Velosos’ lawyer, he was ready to cooperate with the government in ways that could best help his client.

Fishing for thanks

He said Celia felt Mr. Aquino and other officials wanted her family to thank them for what they did at the last minute to get a reprieve for her daughter.

Moreover, Olalia said Celia felt slighted by Mr. Aquino’s statement earlier last week that Mary Jane was initially uncooperative with the Philippine diplomats who had been helping her after she was caught and convicted for bringing in 2.6 kilograms of heroin to Indonesia.

Mr. Aquino, in an interview with Filipino reporters in Langkawi, Malaysia, on Tuesday said that Veloso was uncooperative with Philippine officials at the start of her trial.

Malacañang stressed yesterday that it was the concerted efforts of all those who cared for Veloso that saved her life.

“Indeed, everyone did their part. The whole nation united in prayer and concern, together with people of goodwill from around the world, made possible this reprieve for Ms Veloso,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

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