Mary Jane Veloso —Photo courtesy of the Veloso family
MANILA, Philippines – Following the announcement that Mary Jane Veloso will return to the country, her private lawyers urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to give her immediate clemency.
“As we continue to pray that Mary Jane will really step foot back in our homeland soon, we call on President Marcos Jr. to accord her immediate clemency on humanitarian grounds and as a matter of justice,” Atty. Edre Olalia, chairperson of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), said Wednesday.
Malacañang on Wednesday announced that the Indonesian government has agreed to bring Veloso back to the Philippines.
READ: Mary Jane Veloso is coming home to the Philippines – Marcos
Veloso has been in detention since 2010 after she was arrested by Indonesian authorities at the Yogyakarta airport for bringing in more than two kilograms of heroin.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo stopped Veloso’s execution on April 29, 2015, after then-President Benigno Aquino III appealed her case and explained that her testimony was vital in the case she had filed against her recruiters.
The NUPL took Mary Jane Veloso’s case to the Supreme Court, asking that she be allowed to testify against her recruiters, who were accused of using her as a drug mule.
The Supreme Court has allowed the taking of Veloso’s testimony.
Olalia, in recent statement said they appreciate the Indonesian government’s exemplary act of goodwill.
“We acknowledge the initiative of the present Philippine authorities in pursuing this political and diplomatic arrangement,” he said.
“We thank even this early the migrant and church groups and others both in the Philippines and Indonesia and all others who have not lost faith and who hoped that one day she will be home somehow,” Olaia added.