Migrant rights activists raise march with banners and placards in Manila on Tuesday urging the Philippine government to save Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino migrant facing execution in Indonesia for drug charges. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld its ruling and ordered her execution.(MNS Photo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) – Mary Jane Veloso will not be allowed by the Indonesian government to come to the Philippines for the preliminary investigation of the human trafficking, illegal recruitment, and estafa complaints against her alleged recruiter, an Indonesia-based newspaper reported Thursday.
Indonesia Attorney General’s Office (AGO) spokesman Tony Spontana was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying that the AGO will instead facilitate a video conference or written testimony of Veloso for the purposes of the court proceeding in the Philippines.
“[The Philippine government] has asked Veloso [to come to the Philippines] to testify before the court, but we consider it impossible. Today we will respond to their letter and offer solutions,” Spontana told The Jakarta Post.
According to the report, the letter from the Philippine government was dated April 28, the day Veloso was supposed to be executed by firing squad – along with eight other drug convicts.
Veloso was given a reprieve after her alleged recruiter Maria Kristina Sergio turned herself in to authorities in Nueva Ecija province in the Philippines.
Sergio and her live-in partner Julius Lacanilao are now under the protective custody of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame.
Sergio and Lacanilao have been summoned to a preliminary probe, which was set by the Department of Justice on May 8 and 14 at 2 p.m.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the preliminary investigation will take 60 days to complete.
Veloso claimed Lacanilao introduced her to Sergio and a certain “Ike.”
In defending her case in Indonesia, Veloso claimed that an international trafficking gang tricked her into bringing 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin to Indonesia from Malaysia in 2010. She was sentenced to death in the same year.
The Philippines had sought for clemency in 2010, and again in April 2015, shortly before Veloso’s scheduled execution. But the Indonesian government rejected the plea. (MNS)