Mark Danielle pleaded to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to seek clemency for Mary Jane as she is a victim of human trafficking. “We hope that President Bongbong Marcos will heed our call. We miss her terribly. She is a victim,” Mark Danielle said.
This year marks the 13th year of Mary Jane’s detention on death row. And while there is no imminent threat of execution since she was granted a temporary reprieve by the Indonesian government in 2015 to allow her to testify against her traffickers in an ongoing legal case in the Philippines as a victim of human trafficking, Mary Jane does not deserve to be imprisoned for another single day.
“I hope she will be given clemency at the soonest possible time so we can be together. Our life in the Philippines may be simple, but what’s important is that we are together.”
“Notably, none of the elements of the alleged importation of drugs into Indonesia took place in the Philippines. In fact, the Philippines as the sending country is where Veloso was illegally recruited in order to be trafficked or exploited in two other receiving states. Veloso is, thus, a victim, not a criminal who must be punished.”
“The case of Flor Contemplacion shows two things-the poor conditions and slave-like treatment of our fellow Filipinos overseas and the indifference of our government itself.”
Leaving the place was heartbreaking knowing that you will be leaving behind a kababayan, a Filipina who is innocent but life is in limbo because of an illegal recruiter.
Various groups have joined the family of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row, in urging Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to raise her case in his state visit to Indonesia, saying that she is long overdue for release.
A group of overseas Filipino workers challenged President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to act accordingly on the case of Filipina on death row Mary Jane Veloso.
After a decade, Mary Jane Veloso will now be able to narrate her ordeal in full.
“I hope Mary Jane will return soon and my eldest daughter [in Dammam] recover swiftly so that we all can be reunited here. I hope the president is watching, and come to the aid of my daughters,” she added
“With this ruling, we are hopeful that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will come out and that not only will it decisively and ultimately impel Indonesia to make her reprieve permanent or free her by any legal or political means, that all the perpetrators of the misery she went through will be made to pay, but also that this precedent will contribute to providing succor to many others who will be victims of circumstance and injustice which can all be traced from our economic and social ills.”