‘Bring my mom home’

By Cong B. Corrales

“ATTORNEY, iuwi nyo na Nanay ko ha?”

This poignant plea comes from a boy of six. And all he could do was whisper it in a bashful tone at the airport on Tuesday as lawyer Edre Olalia took his final steps to board the plane for Indonesia.

The boy’s mother and Olalia’s client, Mary Jane Veloso, is on now on death row in Yogyakarta.

Tricked? Indonesian policemen escort Mary Jane Veloso, who is on death row for alleged drug trafficking charges in Indonesia. Photo grabbed from “Save the Life of Mary Jane Veloso” Facebook group.

Human rights lawyers are racing against time to save Mary Jane, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who had been sentenced to die by firing squad for drug trafficking charges.

Olalia, secretary-general of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), and Mary Jane’s father flew to Indonesia Tuesday night to meet with the lawyer that had been appointed by the Philippine embassy to assist Mary Jane. Together, they hope to see Mary Jane at her detention facility in Yogyakarta.

The NUPL is the Philippine private lawyer of Mary Jane’s family. “Our services were only retained by the Veloso family since the evening of April 7,” said Olalia.

‘We believe she had been tricked.’ Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother, pleads withchurch leaders during a forum organized by the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform on April 8, 2015. Beside Celia are Mary Jane’s sons | Bulatlat.com Photo

“We’re continuously conducting consultations and are in constant communication with foreign law experts and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) on all possible remedies available to stay or stop the execution of Mary Jane,” he added.

The NUPL legal team is working “24/7” in studying the Indonesian jurisprudence on drug trafficking.

“We are on it,” Olalia said, adding that the NUPL lawyers see at least three reasons why the Indonesian Supreme Court must stop Mary Jane’s date with death. These, he said, are:

• Mary Jane was denied her basic right to due process;
• The death penalty is too harsh given her disputable participation in the alleged crime of trafficking drugs into Indonesia; and
• Overriding humanitarian consideration “militate against the taking of her life through execution by firing squad.”

Olalia also noted apparent inconsistencies in the imposition of sentences in substantially similar cases.

On Saturday, April 18, Assistant Secretary Charles C. Jose, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), told reporters that the Philippine Embassy in Indonesia wanted to file a second appeal for judicial review on Monday

“Inaasahan natin na it will be considered as an ongoing appeals process,” Jose said.

Mary Jane’s mother Celia had derided the DFA for taking too long in responding to her family’s plea for legal assistance.

Mary Jane, 30, was arrested in 2010 at an airport in Indonesia after 2.6 kilograms of heroin were found hidden in the lining of her suitcase.

NUPL has asked DFA for “pertinent documentation and all documentary evidence of any actions, developments or updates on Mary Jane’s case,” Olalia said.

Until posting time, however, NUPL said the DFA has yet to give the requested documents. “Not at all, since we formally requested last April 10,” Olalia said.

Five years ago, Mary Jane was promised a work as a domestic helper in Malaysia by a certain Maria Kristina Sergio. But upon their arrival there, Sergio allegedly told Mary Jane that the job was no longer available and advised her to stay momentarily at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Three days later, Sergio allegedly went to see Mary Jane at the hotel with supposedly good news that there is a job opening in Indonesia. Sergio allowed Mary Jane to just “borrow” her suitcase.

‘Cash cows’ of the republic? OFW remittances are a significant driver of the national economy. It helps shore up consumer spending. Chart screegrabbed from www.moneypolitics.pcij.org

Mary Jane’s mother had told reporters that government should seek out Sergio as she could prove that Mary Jane had no knowledge of the heroin hidden in the lining of Sergio’s suitcase. Friends and relatives of Mary Jane who live in Cabanatuan City have said that they have also spotted Sergio in nearby Talavera town in Nueva Ecija.

For this purpose, Olalia said, the NUPL filed a letter-complaint with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last April 16.

Olalia said the imposition of the death penalty is not proportionate to Mary Jane’s alleged participation in the drug trafficking charge, “which was anything short of maximal.” – PCIJ, April 2015