Mary Jane Veloso —PHOTO COURTESY OF JARINGAN TOLAK HUKUMAN MATI (ANTICAPITAL PUNISHMENT NETWORK
It’s official. Mary Jane Veloso will be coming back to the Philippines after 14 years on death row in Indonesia, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday.
Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said Philippine delegates on Friday signed the agreement in Jakarta for Veloso’s transfer.
“We had just received the report from our DOJ team in Indonesia that … the Minister for Human Rights, Corrections and Immigration, and the DOJ of the Philippines has signed the practical agreements for the official transfer of Mary Jane Veloso back to the Philippines,” Clavano said.
‘Reciprocal’ agreement
“Mary Jane Veloso is coming home,” Clavano added.
READ: Mary Jane Veloso is coming home to the Philippines – Marcos
President Marcos is expected to announce details of the agreement soon.
According to a Reuters report on Friday, Veloso is expected to arrive in the Philippines just in time for Christmas.
The report, quoting Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra, mentioned several terms the two countries agreed on including respecting the Indonesian court’s sentencing of Veloso and her status as a prisoner in Indonesia.
Veloso is also banned from entering Indonesia.
Yusril said that Indonesia, on the other hand, would respect any decision made by the Philippines after Veloso returned home, including being given clemency.
The Indonesian official said the agreement was “reciprocal”—Manila should also consider if Jakarta makes a similar transfer request in the future for one of its detained citizens in the Philippines.
Clavano, meanwhile, said it is up to Mr. Marcos whether to grant Veloso clemency.
“That’s why we are happy to hear that whatever the decision of our President will be, it will be OK [for Indonesia]. This gives the President even more freedom or leeway to decide for himself,” he said.
Under the Constitution, only the President has the prerogative to issue executive clemency to any person deprived of liberty based on humanitarian or other reasons that could justify the pardon.
In 2010, Veloso was convicted of smuggling drugs to Indonesia after 2.6 kilograms of heroin was found concealed in the lining of her suitcase upon her arrival at Yogyakarta’s Adisucipto International Airport. A few months later, she was sentenced to death by firing squad.
But in 2015, Veloso was given a temporary reprieve by then President Joko Widodo when then President Benigno Aguino III personally appealed to the Indonesian government to grant Veloso clemency saying she was a victim of human trafficking and that recruiters tricked her into smuggling drugs.
The government is expected to clarify details on Veloso’s transfer, including where she will be incarcerated upon arrival.
Her mother, Celia, earlier appealed to Mr. Marcos to ensure her daughter’s safety should she be sent to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, where Maria Cristina Sergio, one of Mary Jane’s recruiters, is also jailed. She had hoped that Veloso would be sent to a facility where none of her recruiters were jailed.
The Veloso family has been looking forward to Mary Jane’s homecoming for Christmas and her reunion with her two sons, now 22 and 17 years old. —WITH A REPORT FROM REUTERS