Makabayan bloc resolution pushes clemency for Veloso

Mary Jane Veloso —Photo courtesy of Jaringan Tolak Hukuman Mati/Anticapital Punishment Network

MANILA, Philippines — Makabayan bloc lawmakers on Wednesday filed House Resolution No. 2128, asking President Marcos to grant clemency to overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso, who has been on death row for 14 years in Indonesia on drug charges, saying she was a “victim of her circumstances.”

Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, ACT Teachers party list Rep. France Castro, and Kabataan party list Rep. Raoul Manuel asked their colleagues to back their call as Brosas criticized the government’s labor export policy, which she said victimized women.

READ: DOJ upbeat on Mary Jane Veloso’s return before Christmas

“Desperately seeking work abroad due to the lack of decent jobs at home, our women become vulnerable to trafficking syndicates and exploitation,” she stressed, adding: “Our people shouldn’t be traded like goods.”

“Mary Jane deserves justice, and all Filipino women deserve the right to decent work in their own country. The labor export policy must end and be replaced with genuine industrialization,” Brosas said. —Jeannette I. Andrade