Marcos thanks Indonesia anew
MARY Jane Veloso, who arrived home yesterday after over a decade in an Indonesian prison, appealed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant her clemency.
Veloso made the appeal in a brief exchange with members of the media at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City where she was brought immediately after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport early yesterday from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
President Marcos again expressed gratitude to Indonesia.
“We take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Indonesian government and to all who have extended assistance for the welfare of Ms. Mary Jane Veloso,” he said in a statement.
“We assure the Filipino people that Ms. Veloso’s safety and welfare is paramount and our agencies in the justice and law enforcement sector shall continue to ensure it, as our Indonesian counterparts have safeguarded it for so long,” he also said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo also expressed appreciation to the Indonesian government, and said Veloso’s repatriation was due to the excellent relations between Manila and Jakarta.
Veloso, in the exchange with media, said she was very happy to be back.
“Napakasaya ko po na nakauwi na ako dito sa bansa natin (I am very happy now that I here in our country),” said Veloso, who was with her parents, Cesar and Celia, sons Mark Darren and Mark Daniel and other members of the family.
Asked what her request to Malacañang is now that she is in the country, Veloso said, “Pakiusap ko sa Pangulo sana bigyan niya na ako ng clemency (I appeal to the President to give me clemency).”
In a press conference in Jakarta before her repatriation, Veloso said she wanted to be freed, to be given clemency.
Malacañang can grant a prisoner executive clemency through various methods such as parole, pardon, or commutation of sentence.
Veloso has maintained she is innocent of the crime of drug trafficking, saying she was just duped by her recruiters, Julius Lacanilao and Maria Cristina Sergio, into carrying luggage that Indonesian airport authorities found to be containing 2.6 kilos of heroin, in 2010.
The Department of Justice said while Veloso’s fate is in Malacañang’s hand, including grant of executive clemency, she will remain in detention at the CIW facility.
“This is not an ordinary homecoming of an OFW, she was an OFW but unfortunately, she was convicted by the court. We have to respect their decision and that is the essence of the agreement para dito ho niya ipagpatuloy ang kanyang sentence (so she can serve her remaining her). At the end of the day, she is under the custody of the government. She is under our responsibility and she will be treated equally like any other person deprived of liberty,” Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said in a press briefing at the CIW.
“As to the grant of clemency… (the President) has absolute authority to grant that. But as to when and how, naaayon na yan sa ating Pangulo (it is up to the President.) It is a plenary power of the executive. He (President) can dispense with that, execute that and it is beyond the question of judicial authorities,” he added.
OTHER PRISONERS
Vasquez said that although he and the rest of the government are happy that Veloso is back in the country, there are other prisoners, including the sick and the elderly, waiting to be granted executive clemency.
“We should also not lose sight of the fact that there are many persons deprived of liberty who are equally entitled to clemency, the sickly, the elderly. We will study that,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
“We have to count our blessings, we are able to reduce the death penalty to life, we were able to bring her back and bring her back subject to rules and regulations and privileges, including possible clemency,” he added.
Vasquez also appealed to the public to respect the decision of the Indonesian court.
“We don’t have a treaty with Indonesia but because of mutual courtesy at strength of Philippine-Indonesian relations, Indonesia granted our request, and the agreement is the anchor, the legal basis of the continued detention of Mary Jane,” he said.
“As to her status, she would be serving her sentence and that sentence is life since the death penalty was commuted. She would have to serve it here. Would she be entitled to clemency or amnesty? Yes, but as to when, it is up to the President,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez appealed to the public to stop saying Veloso is innocent since the fact is she was also convicted by the Indonesian court.
Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres explained that pending Malacañang’s decision, Veloso has to be detained in the CIW to serve her sentence.
“She still has a long time to serve in detention because she was meted life imprisonment and it was only in 2010 that she was sentenced to the death penalty. But the granting of executive clemency may happen anytime so I’m not looking at the number of years that she will spend there (CIW),” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
Like Vasquez, Andres also called on the public to respect the decision of the Indonesian court.
“Let’s give it time. Let’s respect Indonesia because what they want is for her to serve the prison sentence, that’s life imprisonment. But also included in the agreement is we have the right to implement the rules on the grant of executive clemency,” he said.
COURT CASE
With Veloso finally in the country, Vasquez said she will now be able to participate in proceedings at the Nueva Ecija court on the remaining human trafficking case against Lacanilao and Sergio.
Vasquez said it is only that Veloso will be able to testify in court and face her recruiters, although, he added, she may also testify through video conferencing proceedings.
In 2020, the Nueva Ecija regional trial court handed a guilty verdict to Lacanilao and Sergio on the illegal recruitment case but the human trafficking case remains pending.
Veloso has accused Lacanilao and Sergio of duping her into bringing heroin to Indonesia, resulting in her arrest and conviction.
SAFETY
Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Catapang assured Veloso of her safety and well-being inside the CIW, even if Sergio is imprisoned in the same facility.
He said Sergio is at the “maximum area.”
“Mary Jane will be at the Reception and Diagnostic Center for the next two months. We can choose Palawan or Davao or we can move this person to another place. So, they should, they will never meet,” Catapang said.
He also said Veloso’s family can visit her during weekends.
Earlier, the agency said Veloso will undergo five days of quarantine and a 55-day orientation, diagnostic, evaluation, and initial security classification at the RDC.
Catapang said he will form a team to study and review Veloso’s records in Indonesian prison to see if she will be qualified for Good Conduct Time Allowance or GCTA law to shorten her stay in detention.
PRISONER SWAP
Senate President Francis Escudero expressed hope Veloso will be the first of Filipinos jailed abroad and brought home.
Escudero said the Department of Foreign Affairs should make an accounting of Filipinos who are jailed abroad and study what it can do to help them come home.
“I am now asking them to inventory and make an accounting of Filipinos who are incarcerated in a foreign country… the nature of the cases against them… what has or can be done to help them regain their liberty, how we can assist to make their detention, in the meantime, more bearable,” he said.
Escudero said the DFA can also study the possibility of prisoner swap if only to bring jailed Filipinos back home.
“And to explore and push for a treaty on prisoner swap for the service of sentences here (closer to their loved ones) of convicted Filipinos abroad,” he added.
Sen. Joel Villanueva said, “We call on the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Migrant Workers to continue to monitor the cases of our fellow Filipinos, particularly the 49 OFWs currently on death row and ensure that they receive the necessary assistance from the government.”
“This could pave the way for our concerned government agencies to explore legal and diplomatic options, including possible commutation of sentence and allowing them to serve their sentence in the Philippines,” he added. – With Raymond Africa
