Clemency for Mary Jane Veloso? Marcos says ‘everything is on the table’

Mary Jane Veloso —PHOTO COURTESY OF VELOSO FAMILY

BACOLOR, Pampanga, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said “everything is on the table” regarding drug convict Mary Jane Veloso’s fate once she returns to the Philippines.

In an ambush interview in Nueva Ecija on Thursday, Marcos was asked whether Veloso would be given clemency upon her return from Indonesia.

“We will see… this is the first time that this has happened. So, everything is on the table,” he responded.

Clemency is the act of granting mercy to a convicted individual, typically given by an executive authority.

READ: Mary Jane Veloso is coming home to the Philippines – Marcos

In a Palace briefing on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the Indonesian government is open to allowing Marcos to grant Veloso clemency.

He then explained two possible scenarios: “We will request—while she’s here—for the official release from detention from the Indonesian criminal procedure system or another one; they will allow our president to issue the clemency on the basis that she’s been in detention for many years.”

However, de Vega noted that details regarding Veloso’s potential clemency, the detention facility where she will continue to serve her sentence, and the length of her imprisonment remain under discussion.

In 2010, Veloso was arrested at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin.

Veloso maintained she was unaware of the contents of her luggage as it was only given by her recruiters, identified as Julius Lacanilao and Maria Cristina Sergio.