Request for Mary Jane Veloso’s clemency up to legal experts – PBBM

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: HOME AT LAST. Migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso poses for photographers at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City where she was taken right after arrival from Indonesia on Wednesday morning (Dec. 18, 2024), with her two sons to her right and Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. and Department of Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano behind. Veloso was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in 2010 until the government finally convinced Indonesian authorities to allow her to serve out her sentence in the Philippines. (PNA photo by Avito Dalan)

MANILA – The request to grant executive clemency to Mary Jane Veloso lies in the hands of legal experts, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, Marcos said it would take a long time to determine whether the grant of clemency to Veloso is “appropriate.”

Marcos stressed that while the Indonesian government did not make any condition following Veloso’s return to the Philippines, he said reviewing her case is “still at the very preliminary stage.”

“Ang layo pa. Malayo pa tayo doon (It’s still far away. We’re still far from it). We still have to have a look at really what the status is and then of course, we’re aware of the request for clemency from her representatives, of course and from her family,” Marcos said, when asked if he was keen on granting clemency to Veloso.

“And we will leave it to the legal judgment of our legal experts to determine whether the provision of clemency is appropriate,” he added.

Speaking to members of the media upon her return to the country, Veloso hoped Marcos would grant her executive clemency.

Upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City on Wednesday morning, Veloso was immediately brought to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City where she will be mandatorily housed at the Reception and Diagnostic Center for a five-day quarantine and a 55-day orientation, diagnostic evaluation and initial security classification.

Veloso was jailed in Indonesia in 2010 and was sentenced to death in the same year after 2.6 kg. of heroin were found in her suitcase.

She was given a last-minute reprieve in April 2015 when Manila informed Jakarta that her recruiters had surrendered.