The clock ticks for Mary Jane
It’s been two years since Filipina overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso was granted a stay of execution by the Indonesian government. The mother of two is on death row in Yogyakarta after being convicted in 2010 of smuggling 2.6 kilos of heroin in her suitcase into the Indonesian city from Malaysia.
While enjoying the reprieve granted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Veloso could be doomed by the snail-paced Philippine justice system. Jakarta approved the stay of execution to give Veloso a chance to prove her claim that she was duped by her recruiter into bringing the suitcase with the heroin to Indonesia.
Yesterday the parties in the recruitment case were notified that the Court of Appeals had issued a 60-day temporary restraining order from March 24, preventing Philippine authorities from taking Veloso’s deposition on April 27 in the Indonesian jail. CA Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Manuel Barrios and Renato Francisco granted the petition of the defendants in the qualified human trafficking case, Maria Kristina Sergio and her partner Julius Lacanilao, who argued that the deposition in Indonesia would violate their right to physically confront their accuser.
The two, who are also on trial before the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court for illegal recruitment and fraud, argued that they were indicted mainly to spare Veloso from the firing squad. They have denied conniving with an African man in cross-border drug trafficking. The African reportedly gave Veloso the suitcase with the heroin in Malaysia, where she had hoped to find work.
On April 29, 2015, Indonesia rejected appeals from foreign governments and executed four Nigerians, two Australians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian convicted of drug trafficking. Only Veloso was spared, but Jakarta has indicated that the reprieve is not permanent if she fails to prove her story.
Jakarta is unlikely to wait too long for the wheels of Philippine justice to turn at the usual leisurely pace. Veloso was sentenced to death in October 2010. It took Jakarta just six years to arrest, prosecute, convict and execute the three principal Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists behind the Bali nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people. Apart from Islamist extremism, Indonesian officials have said their country also faces a serious drug trafficking problem and they intend to deal with it harshly.
If Veloso’s recruiters are innocent, they themselves should want their trial speeded up. This is one case where the Philippine judiciary cannot take its usual sweet time. The clock is ticking for the life of Mary Jane Veloso.
