Mary Jane is a Filipino who was arrested in April 2010 in Indonesia for reportedly carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death.
Her family and migrant rights advocates maintained that Mary Jane is a victim of human rights trafficking. Bulatlat chronicled the campaign for her reprieve, which gained international attention. On April 29 at around 3 a.m., Mary Jane was granted a stay in execution.
Bulatlat continues to follow the developments on her case.
“Now that she has been in the country for nearly a month, Marcos should use his unbound power to grant her clemency if he truly cares about our OFWs who have become victims of human trafficking. There is no more reason to delay her freedom."
"Mary Jane Veloso is not a criminal but a victim of human trafficking. Her homecoming should not be treated as a prisoner transfer but as the return of a Filipino who has suffered enough." -- former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate
"We look forward to the full achievement of justice when the other case of Mary Jane is resolved and she is herself ultimately and finally sent home free in time."
Mary Jane is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Tuesday, April 28.
This copy was provided to Bulatlat.com by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, a Filipino lawyer rights group who took on Veloso’s case as progressive groups carry on their last ditched efforts to save her from execution.
Mary Jane Veloso’s accounts reveal the realities of Filipino migrant workers who are victimized by human traffickers. Mary Jane’s family and supporters call for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to grant her clemency, a conditional release of a person deprived of liberty (PDL), mitigating the consequences of criminal liability.
“We hope that our government will put Mary Jane in a safe place, and that she will be granted clemency by our government,” said Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother, during the program commemorating the birth of Andres Bonifacio last November 30 (Saturday).
After almost 14 years of imprisonment, Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino on death row in Indonesia, has a chance of coming back home to the Philippines.
Mark Danielle pleaded to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to seek clemency for Mary Jane as she is a victim of human trafficking. “We hope that President Bongbong Marcos will heed our call. We miss her terribly. She is a victim,” Mark Danielle said.
This year marks the 13th year of Mary Jane’s detention on death row. And while there is no imminent threat of execution since she was granted a temporary reprieve by the Indonesian government in 2015 to allow her to testify against her traffickers in an ongoing legal case in the Philippines as a victim of human trafficking, Mary Jane does not deserve to be imprisoned for another single day.
“I hope she will be given clemency at the soonest possible time so we can be together. Our life in the Philippines may be simple, but what’s important is that we are together.”
“Notably, none of the elements of the alleged importation of drugs into Indonesia took place in the Philippines. In fact, the Philippines as the sending country is where Veloso was illegally recruited in order to be trafficked or exploited in two other receiving states. Veloso is, thus, a victim, not a criminal who must be punished."
Leaving the place was heartbreaking knowing that you will be leaving behind a kababayan, a Filipina who is innocent but life is in limbo because of an illegal recruiter.
The current cosmetic changes in the country’s labor export policy will not provide due protection to Filipino workers overseas. Worse, this will only exacerbate the already dire conditions they are facing.
After a decade, Mary Jane Veloso will now be able to narrate her ordeal in full.
“I hope Mary Jane will return soon and my eldest daughter [in Dammam] recover swiftly so that we all can be reunited here. I hope the president is watching, and come to the aid of my daughters,” she added
"We look forward to the full achievement of justice when the other case of Mary Jane is resolved and she is herself ultimately and finally sent home free in time."
"With this ruling, we are hopeful that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will come out and that not only will it decisively and ultimately impel Indonesia to make her reprieve permanent or free her by any legal or political means, that all the perpetrators of the misery she went through will be made to pay, but also that this precedent will contribute to providing succor to many others who will be victims of circumstance and injustice which can all be traced from our economic and social ills."
MANILA – The family of Mary Jane Veloso, along with supporters and migrant rights activists, described the Filipina in death row in Indonesia as “full of joy, hope, and determination” as they visited her at the Wirogunan Prison in Yogyakarta today, Sept. 14. Mary...
“I am yearning for my mother. I hope to be with her soon. Please continue supporting her.”
The Honorable Court, the motion for reconsideration stipulated, “grossly ignored the extraordinary circumstance attendant in this case that puts Mary Jane Veloso under the exception instead of the general rule” in the strict application of criminal procedures in the Philippines.