Pacquiao visits Indonesia, thanks Widodo for Veloso’s reprieve

Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (Photo by Mikey Williams)

Filipino boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao visited Indonesia for the first time and wanted to take it as an opportunity to personally meet President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Pacquiao wanted to thank Widodo for granting Filipina drug trafficking convict Mary Jane Veloso temporary reprieve an hour before her scheduled execution by firing squad earlier this year.

“[I want to] say thank you… I’m going to meet the President on Friday,” he told reporters.

Pacquiao also wanted to visit Veloso who has been kept imprisoned at the Wirogunan penitentiary in Yogyakarta. He had already submitted an official request to visit.

“I want to visit Mary Jane Veloso… I will [also] visit her on Friday,” he added.

Travelling with his wife Jinkee, Pacquiao arrived on Semarang, Central Java on Wednesday, scheduled to shoot a television advertisement for a local herbal medicine. They have been scheduled to stay in the country for three days.

It can be recalled that Pacquiao earlier made a plea to Widodo to spare Veloso’s life as she was put to death row two months ago. The boxing champ took time off from his training for his then anticipated megabout with American boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. to send an appeal.

Even after his megafight with Mayweather, Pacquiao had already expressed intent to visit Widodo and Veloso.

“Gagawan natin ng paraan na pwede nating mabisita ang President ng Indonesia after the fight. But of course, kailangan pa ring ipagpaalam sa Pangulo, kung anong tingin niya. Kailangan ipaalam kasi he’s the authority… official ‘yung travel natin,” he said in an earlier interview.

(We will make a way for us to visit the President of Indonesia after the fight. But of course, we need to first ask the permission of our President (Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III), on what he thinks. We need to ask permission because he’s the authority… our travel’s official.)

Filipina worker Veloso was among the nine convicts dubbed as the Bali 9, scheduled for execution on April 29. She was arrested in 2010, caught hiding 2.6 kilograms of heroin in the lining of her luggage allegedly handed to her by her recruiters.

With Veloso’s alleged recruiters Maria Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao surfacing just hours before her scheduled execution, Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) decided to delay execution.

The Philippines has then held court hearings on Veloso’s human trafficking case against her recruiters.

As of posting, the National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) recently filed charges of qualified human trafficking, illegal recruitment and estafa against Sergio and Lacanilao.