58 Pinoys on death row abroad, says DFA
PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday said an appeal for clemency from former overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso, who returned to Manila Wednesday after nearly 15 years in prison in Indonesia, is being reviewed by legal experts.
The President, in an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Philippine Air Force change-of-command ceremonies at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City, also said the review is still at the “very preliminary stage of her pag-uwi (of her return).”
“Ang layo pa, malayo pa tayo doon (That’s still far, we’re still far from that.) We still have to have a look at, really, what her status is,” he said.
“We will leave it to the legal judgement, the judgment of our legal experts to determine whether the provision of clemency is appropriate,” he added.
He noted that Indonesia did not set any condition when it approved Veloso’s transfer to Manila to serve the remainder of her sentence.
Veloso, a mother of two, was arrested in 2010 in Yogyakarta after Indonesian authorities found over 2.6 kilograms of heroin concealed in her suitcase. She said she was an unwitting drug mule, but she was convicted and sentenced to death.
In 2015, she received a last-minute reprieve from execution by firing squad for drug trafficking after the arrest in the Philippines of her recruiters who sent her to Indonesia.
The recruiters, Julius Lacanilao and Cristina Sergio, have been charged with human trafficking and large-scale illegal recruitment cases before a court in Nueva Ecija. In 2020, they were found guilty in the illegal recruitment case. The trafficking case is still pending, and Veloso is a witness to the case.
PINOYS ON DEATH ROW
The Department of Foreign Affairs said 58 Filipinos abroad are on death row, most of them in in Malaysia.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said majority of the Filipinos on death row are convicted for murder while others are sentenced for possession of illegal drugs.
“We have 58 pending death cases, although many are still under investigation or trial or are under appeal,” De Vega said.
“The most is Malaysia (including cases in Sabah) with 23,” he added.
Of the 58, De Vega said, 16 “are final and executory.”
He said the DFA through its embassies are working to get them pardon.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, citing DFA records, has said 41 Filipinos (33 males, eight females) are on death row in Malaysia.
Two Filipino males are on death row in Brunei for murder. Their execution had been put on hold because of a de facto moratorium on death sentences since 1996. – With Ashzel Hachero
