DOJ: Board of pardons to study Veloso clemency

Convicted overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso arrived at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 for a five-day quarantine. Veloso returned to the Philippines after being detained in Indonesia for 14 years for drug trafficking. INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Board of Pardons and Parole would have to study granting executive clemency to Mary Jane Veloso, who was nearly executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking, before making such a recommendation to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Thursday.

Justice Undersecretary Jesse Andres made the pronouncement after Marcos said legal experts would still have to assess if Veloso can be granted clemency.

READ: Clemency for Mary Jane Veloso still subject to review – Marcos

“Our President is right; we have rules and laws that must be followed,” Andres said in Filipino in a chance interview.

“The Board of Pardons and Parole should make the proper evaluation. There must be a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Parole for it to be elevated to our President before he grants executive clemency or pardon,” he added.

According to Andres, the evaluation is a lengthy process that cannot be rushed, especially as the government is merely continuing Veloso’s prison sentence in the Philippines after her transfer from Indonesia.

“That’s all we’re doing right now, but let’s wait. There is a right time for us to talk about that. But there is a process that needs to be followed,” he added.

Good conduct time allowance

Asked if Veloso is entitled to the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) like other persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), Andres responded in the affirmative.

The GCTA is the privilege granted to a prisoner, entitling him to a reduction of his prison term for every month of actual detention or service of sentence as a reward for good conduct and exemplary behavior.

“All of PDLs are entitled to what we call GCTA, which will reduce the duration of his imprisonment,” he said.

“So we have to wait and the process is already ongoing,” he added.

Andres also explained that the DOJ would still have to study how the process could apply to Veloso, as PDLs can apply for the GCTA after serving a specific period in prison.

“This is the first time that a Filipino served in a foreign country and now has returned,” he said in Filipino.

Veloso was arrested in 2010 at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin.

She was then sentenced to death, but was spared from death row in 2015 after Philippine officials asked then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo to allow her to testify against members of a human and drug-smuggling syndicate in Manila.

After almost 15 years of discussions and diplomacy, Indonesia finally allowed Veloso’s transfer to the Philippines.

She arrived in the country on December 18 and proceeded to the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City to continue serving her sentence, this time, sans the death penalty which is prohibited in the Philippines.