Duterte last resort for Veloso: Duped into carrying drugs

Mary Jane Veloso, is a 31 year old Filipino woman whose life is hanging by a thread since she has been sentenced to death by a firing squad in the nearby country of Indonesia; it can be said that she has already postponed her death once, she was to be executed by a firing squad in January 2015.
She was caught while carrying a suitcase containing 2.6 Kg Heroin into Indonesia and sentenced in the year 2010 in spite of her fervent appeals that she had been deceived in to carrying the suitcase by her god sister when she lost her job in Malaysia and wanted to move to Indonesia seeking employment.
Her execution could not be enforced since President Yudhoyono was elected into office and kept the capital punishments in abeyance; her impending execution was again scheduled for January 2015 consequent to the election of President Joko Widodo into office and removal of the moratorium on capital punishments.
All appeals and entreaties were turned down by the courts in Indonesia but there was a public outcry in the Philippines and other countries with a demand for clemency since she had been duped into acting as a drug-carrier mule.
This widespread popular show of support had the effect of applying pressure on the Indonesian government but her execution was fixed to be carried out on 29th April 2015.
There were a number of people from death row who were to be executed along with Mary Jane Veloso but she was riding her luck and on the midnight of the date when she was to be executed, there was an order stopping temporarily her execution by the order of a court which wanted to prosecute the people who were her human traffickers.

Since the court wanted her testimony against those criminals, her execution could not be carried out again.
She seemed to be living a charmed life with her execution being put off yet again; her parents were grateful to the lord for providing those extra days to their doomed daughter.
The public support for Mary Jane was slowly gathering steam and was widening in terms of the well known personalities who were gathering strength and the campaign was getting more vocal by the day.
They included:
• An Archbishop,
• Singers,
• Chefs,
• Manny Pacquiao,
• The United Nations General Secretary Ban ki Moon,
• Nobel laureate and former president of Timor, and
• There were also 250,000 signatories from 125 countries in a campaign on change.org to release Mary jane.
The list was endless; even the youth representatives of ASEAN met President Widodo personally to convince him.
The life of this maid who had escaped a rape attempt in Dubai where she had worked for about six month before coming to Indonesia was still hanging by a thread.
When there was no other door left to knock on, the hapless parents of a Filipino girl who had been convicted to be executed by a firing squad in nearby Indonesia, appealed to the only man who could pull it off if their daughter was to be saved.
Even the government of President Aquino III had requested the Indonesian government to provide a pardon to the hapless victim but there was no result.
Finally, her parents renewed their appeal to the only person who could really bring the lady home, Duterte.
Duterte is today in Indonesia and has promised that when he is meeting the Indonesian President, he will certainly take up the matter and try his best for her.
The Filipino Ambassador to Indonesia has been in touch with Mary Jane and reported that, though she is perturbed and anxious to hear what this last ditch effort by a personality as large as Duterte will fetch.
However, the President will not be able to meet Mary Jane personally since the journey to her place of detention; Nusakambangan Prison involves a flight of over one hour and meeting her is neither a priority nor advisable under the circumstances.
The Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are also eager to welcome their new President who has captured the imagination of the populace with his amazing personality and achievements. One hopes that getting Mary Jane back home is the next success of his.
Moreover, with the engagements during the day and the state dinner following the one to one meeting with President Widodo, it is not feasible since the recent kidnapping of the Indonesians in Filipino waters is a more pressing engagement.
Duterte is noncommittal on the issue of Mary Jane but he has assured her parents that he will make an earnest attempt to get her released but, if his appeal is turned down, he will not take it as an affront since we have to respect the judicial process all the countries.
Umrao singh umraoz.wordpress.com

Friday, 09 September 2016
Written for: Lars-Magnus Carlsson www.thephilippinepride.com

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