A Filipina sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking declared herself “delighted” and “grateful” on Thursday after an agreement negotiated between the two countries which should allow her to be transferred soon to Manila.
Mary Jane Veloso, a mother of two, was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 while carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase. She was sentenced to death.
“I am very happy to learn that there is a new chance for me to hope to return home and reunite with my family,” said Ms. Veloso, in a written statement, read Thursday by the director of the prison, where she is detained in Yogyakarta.
“I am grateful and I would like to thank everyone who continues to increase their efforts so that I can return to my country,” she added.
In 2015, the Philippine government obtained a last-minute reprieve to avoid her execution, after a woman suspected of having recruited her was arrested and tried for human trafficking.
“After more than a decade of diplomacy and consultations with the Indonesian government, we managed to delay her execution long enough to reach an agreement to bring her back to the Philippines,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday in a press release.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto “approved the prisoner transfer policy” in the case of Mary Jane Veloso, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesian minister in charge of legal affairs and human rights, later confirmed. The 39-year-old mother could be back in the Philippines as early as next December, he said.
The inmate’s family and supporters insist she is innocent and was duped by drug traffickers. She thought she was signing a contract for a job as a domestic worker, which turned out to be fictitious, and did not know that the suitcase her recruiter had given her contained hidden drugs, according to her supporters.
When she returns to Manila, Mary Jane Veloso plans to use the skills she learned in prison, including local batik (fabric dyeing) techniques, to earn money for herself and her family.
The Philippine Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Eduardo de Vega, clarified on Wednesday that the government’s objective “would not only be for her to be transferred, but for the president, our president (Marcos, editor’s note), to be able to show clemency” towards him.
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