Marcos: Mary Jane Veloso clemency to undergo legal review

TURNOVER Mary Jane Veloso officially becomes an inmate at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, after the media frenzy that marked her transfer from an Indonesian jail. —PHOTO FROM BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS

MANILA—President Marcos said on Thursday that legal experts would consider clemency requests for Mary Jane Veloso, who had been sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking before the two countries reached a deal for her repatriation this week.

Veloso, 39, had received a last-minute reprieve from execution by firing squad for drug trafficking in Indonesia in 2015. After years of negotiations, she returned to Manila on Wednesday to serve the remainder of her sentence.

“We’re aware of the request for clemency from her representative, of course, and from her family,” Marcos told reporters.

“We leave it to the judgment of our legal experts to determine whether the vision of clemency is appropriate,” he said.

Indonesia did not set any conditions on the return of Veloso, Marcos added.

“We are still far from that,” the President said when asked about requests from Veloso herself, her family, and cause-oriented groups to grant her clemency. “We still have to have a look at really what her status is.”

READ: Mary Jane Veloso appeals to Marcos for clemency

Veloso, a former domestic helper and mother of two, was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 after being found with 2.6 kilograms (5.73 lbs) of heroin concealed in a suitcase.

She said she was an unwitting drug mule, but she was convicted and sentenced to death, prompting an outcry in the Philippines.

Veloso was repatriated days after the five remaining members of the “Bali Nine” drug ring were sent back to Australia from Indonesia.