A Filipino woman who spent nearly 15 years on death row in Indonesia and was almost shot dead has returned home and is now awaiting clemency in a women’s prison.
Mary Jane Veloso, 39, arrived at Manila airport on Wednesday morning under an extradition agreement between the two countries that removes the threat of the death penalty as the Philippines has long abolished the death penalty.
The mother of two was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after a suitcase she was carrying was found to contain 2.6kg of heroin.
After a ceremony in Jakarta marking “the end of a miserable chapter in Veloso’s life,” she was flown home on a commercial flight overnight without handcuffs, accompanied by Philippine prison guards, the Department of Corrections said in a statement.
As soon as Veloso arrived at the airport, she was immediately transferred to a women’s prison under tight security. Her family and dozens of supporters who had been chanting slogans such as “Tolerance for Mary Jane” and “Free Mary Jane, Free Mary Jane” waiting outside the terminal were unable to greet Veloso when she arrived.
Prison officials later allowed Veloso’s family to spend time with her. Veloso’s two sons ran toward her and hugged her as they met inside the prison.
“I am our president. [Ferdinand Marcos] Please forgive me so I can return to my family. “I was in prison in Indonesia for 15 years for something I didn’t commit.” Veloso, who is technically still serving a life sentence, spoke to reporters after undergoing a medical examination at a Manila prison.
human trafficking victims
The conviction and death sentence of a single mother of two sons has sparked outrage in the Philippines.
She traveled to Indonesia, where recruiter Maria Kristina Sergio told her that a housekeeper job was waiting for her. Sergio reportedly also provided the suitcase in which drugs were found.
In 2015, Indonesia transferred Veloso to an island prison, where she and eight other drug prisoners were scheduled to be executed despite opposition from their home countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana and Nigeria.
Indonesia executed others, but Veloso received a stay of execution because Sergio had been arrested in the Philippines two days earlier. She faces human trafficking charges and Veloso has been named as a prosecution witness in the case.
Veloso has become a symbol of his country’s 10 million-strong economic diaspora. Many of them work as domestic workers abroad to escape poverty at home.
Marcos said last month that Veloso’s story resonated in the Philippines as “a mother trapped in the clutches of poverty who made a desperate choice that changed her life.”
In a statement Wednesday, Marcos thanked Indonesia for handing over custody of Veloso but made no mention of a pardon or amnesty.
Under the agreement, Veloso’s life sentence now falls within the Philippines’ authority, “including the power to grant pardons, pardons and similar measures.”
“Clearly the matter is on the table,” Deputy Attorney General Raul Vázquez told reporters Wednesday, adding that Veloso’s pardon bid “will be studied seriously.”
If not pardoned, she would face life in prison, Vasquez added.
The Indonesian government said it would respect all decisions made by Manila.
The Veloso deal includes a “reciprocity” clause. The agreement states that “if Indonesia requests similar assistance in the future, the Philippines shall honor such request.”
There has been intense media speculation that Indonesia will demand the detention of Australian Gregor Johann Haas, who was detained on drug charges in the Philippines earlier this year.
He is also wanted in Jakarta on drug smuggling charges that could carry the death penalty.
According to data from the Immigration and Corrections Department last month, about 530 people, including foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes. The last execution of a citizen and three foreigners in Indonesia was in July 2016.
Five Australians who spent nearly 20 years in an Indonesian prison on heroin trafficking charges returned to Australia on Sunday under an intergovernmental agreement.
