The mother of Mary Jane Veloso pleas for clemency.
MARY JANE VELOSO – The mother of the Filipino death row convict in Indonesia is begging the Indonesia president to set her free.
Indonesia is one of the countries in the world that has the toughest consequences in cases related to illegal substances. And Mary Jane Veloso was the woman caught with 2.6 kilograms of h-roin hidden inside her suitcase while entering Indonesia in 2010.
Prosecutors asked to sentence her to life imprisonment but the judges gave her the death penalty.
In August 2011, the late former president Benigno S. Aquino III appealed for her clemency but this was not acted upon. In 2015, with the effort of the late former President, her execution was delayed. She was previously set to be killed by firing squad.
At present time, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has an official visit to Manila and this sparked Veloso’s family hope for her freedom. Her family and supporters held a protest near the palace on Wednesday as Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is meeting the Indonesian president.
Veloso’s mother, Celia, wrote a letter to Widodo which was handed to the palace.
In the letter, Celia addressed the Indonesian president and asked for the release of her daughter for the sake of her two children whom she left behind when she was sent behind bars after being convicted.
“I am begging and pleading you to help free my daughter who has been suffering innocently for fourteen years,” Celia Veloso said and it also appeared in the letter, “Today is the (39th) birthday of my daughter… I am hoping that she would be released.”
Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo informed the reporters that the pleads for clemency was raised with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. This was during the 7th Philippines-Indonesia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) that was held in a hotel in Makati.
In 2022, Marcos Jr. raised this issue with the Indonesian president during his state visit in Jakarta.
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