‘Please don't kill her, Widodo’: Filipino ex-maid’s family pleads as execution over Indonesia drugs case looms
Relatives say Mary Jane Veloso was duped by a recruitment agency into smuggling heroin
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 09 April, 2015, 11:12am
UPDATED : Thursday, 09 April, 2015, 6:29pm
Agence France-Presse in Manila
The family of a Filipino woman on death row in Indonesia made a tearful appeal for her life yesterday, insisting that an international drug syndicate duped the single mother of two.
Mary Jane Veloso, 30, has been in an Indonesian jail for five years after being caught at Yogyakarta airport with 2.6kg of heroin, and is among a batch of foreigners facing imminent execution.
But in an emotional interview in Manila, her parents and sister said a crime syndicate involving a friend had deceived her, and she did not know the drugs had been sewn into her suitcase before flying from Malaysia.
Veloso’s elder sister, Marites Veloso-Laurente, said in a plea to Indonesian President Joko Widodo: “Please don’t kill my sister. She is innocent. If you kill her, you will have blood on your hands.”
With tears streaming down his cheeks, Veloso’s father said the syndicate that used her as an unwitting drug mule had pledged to kill all family members if they reported the racket to authorities or went to the media.
“Life’s been hard. We’ve been living in fear. My daughter’s recruiters have been threatening us … they threatened to kill us one-by-one,” 59-year-old Cesar Veloso said.
The family is from a poor farming town about three hours’ drive north of Manila, and Veloso had sought to provide for her two young sons by working as a domestic helper overseas.
Mary Jane Veloso in a picture provided by her family. Photo: AFP
The single mother initially worked for nine months in Dubai in 2009 but was forced to come home after her employer tried to rape her, according to her father.
A family friend then offered Veloso work as a maid in Malaysia.
When Veloso got to Malaysia she was told the job was no longer available but there was another one in Indonesia if she flew there immediately, according to her parents.
“My sister’s a loving person, she’s so kind. But she trusts too much. We don’t engage in vices or anything illegal, no cigarettes, no alcohol,” her elder sister said.
When Veloso was arrested, her sons were aged just one and seven, and they too have become victims.
“It’s as if they lost all hope … they are worried about what would happen to them if their mother never came back,” the Veloso matriarch, Celia, said as her two grandsons sat quietly next to her.
She said the eldest son, Mark Daniel Candelaria, 12, was struggling at school and may have to repeat eighth grade.
Veloso’s youngest, Mark Darren, aged six, copes by singing her mother’s favourite song, a Filipino ballad called Just wait, which has become an anthem of hope for the family.
Veloso’s mother, 55, insisted that, if her daughter was involved in the drug trade, her family would have seen some benefits of it.
From left: mother Celia Veloso; sons Mark Daniel Candelaria, 12, and Mark Darren Candelaria, 8; father Cesar Veloso; and sister Marites Veloso-Laurente protest in front of the Indonesian embassy in Manila. Photo: AFP
Instead, she shares a cramped brick and wood shanty with her husband and six grandchildren, including Veloso’s sons.
“We beg you, Mr Indonesian president, if my daughter was involved in drugs, we wouldn’t be this poor,” she said.
About 10 million Filipinos work overseas, with most heading abroad to escape deep poverty.
Many work in menial jobs or face dangerous work conditions, but even salaries of a US$300 a month are more than can be earned at home.
The government has previously warned Filipinos heading abroad about the dangers of drug traffickers trying to exploit or dupe them.
The are 125 Filipinos on death row around the world, with many of them convicted of drug trafficking, according to Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of overseas workers’ rights group Migrante.
The Indonesian Supreme Court last week denied Veloso’s request to review her conviction.
The Philippine government said yesterday that it would file a second appeal.
Veloso’s parents and sons also went to the Indonesian embassy in Manila yesterday to lodge a letter appealing to Widodo for mercy.
Aside from Veloso, convicts from Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana and Nigeria are set to face a firing squad after they had their requests for presidential clemency rejected.
The death penalty was abolished in the mainly Catholic Philippines in 2006.
