Visit of Mary Jane Veloso’s family to Indonesia canceled

Drug convict Mary Jane Veloso of the Philippines (clapping) attends a ceremony at a prison in Yogyakarta on November 9, 2015. —Photo by Koko/Agence France-Presse

CABANATUAN CITY, NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines — It’s a mix of emotions that gripped Celia Veloso on Sunday after her hope of seeing her daughter, Mary Jane, were dashed when she was told she would not fly to Indonesia now that plans on the jailed Filipino worker’s return to the country were being finalized.

Celia said they were already waiting in Metro Manila for a vehicle to bring them to the airport on Sunday morning when they received the cancellation advice from the Office of the Undersecretary for Migration Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, which sponsored the trip.

READ: Mary Jane Veloso says ‘miracle’ repatriation God’s answer to prayer

Celia, speaking to the Inquirer by phone, said she, her husband Cesar and Mary Jane’s two sons had hoped to see and hug Mary Jane if they were allowed to travel to Indonesia.

They were going to Yogyakarta City, where Mary Jane has been jailed for nearly 15 years now, for their visit from Dec. 15 to Dec. 18.

Extremely happy

But Celia said they were still extremely happy that the process for Mary Jane’s return finally started and that she would be brought to the capital Jakarta.

On Sunday, Indonesian authorities ordered to bring Mary Jane to Jakarta where the processes of her transfer to the Philippines will be facilitated.

According to the Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, Veloso will remain in Jakarta until her transfer, which has no definitive date yet but is expected to happen “soon.”

The family has been with Migrante International in Metro Manila since Dec. 6.

Mary Jane Veloso, 39, was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying when she arrived at the Yogyakarta airport was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin. In 2015, she narrowly escaped execution after her Filipino recruiter, Cristina Sergio, was arrested. Sergio was sentenced to serve life in prison by a Nueva Ecija court in January 2020 for large-scale illegal recruitment in a case filed by three other victims.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse on Friday, Mary Jane called the developments in her case a “miracle.”

Last week, Indonesia’s senior law and human rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said a “practical arrangement” had been signed for Mary Jane’s repatriation.

Mahendra said Veloso’s transfer could happen “around Dec. 20” and that he learned her death penalty would be reduced to life imprisonment. ” —with a report from Jane Bautista