Supporters, led by Task Force Mary Jane, Migrante International, and Bayan Muna, along with relatives of Mary Jane Veloso trooped to Mendiola on Friday, January 10, to appeal to the Marcos administration to grant her an executive clemency.
January 10 also marks Mary Jane’s 40th birthday, her first one to be celebrated within the country after being imprisoned in Indonesia for 14 years.
Mary Jane, who came back to the Philippines on December 18 last year, is currently incarcerated at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong.
“Mary Jane was 25 years old when she left the country to work for her son’s futures,” says Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother. “Now, she’s 40 and she’s still behind bars.”
‘Searing indictment of systemic failures’
In a separate statement, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), who served as Veloso’s legal counsel in her case, also appealed for her release. The group stressed that her experience proved not only her resilience but also served as a testament to the systemic failures that led to her predicament.
“Mary Jane was duped into unknowingly transporting illegal drugs and sentenced to death in Indonesia. For nearly a decade and a half, she lived under the shadow of execution–separated from her family and forced to bear the consequences of her exploitation. Her plight has become a powerful symbol of the struggles faced by countless overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are preyed upon and abandoned in their darkest moments,” NUPL added.
The Veloso family represented the thousands of Filipinos who signed petitions to campaign for Mary Jane’s absolute clemency. Copies of the petitions were submitted to Malacañang on Friday.
“President Marcos once said that Mary Jane is only a victim. He recognizes this, so we are hoping that she’ll be released soon,” said Celia Veloso in an interview with Manila Today.
Veloso recounted the plight that her family experienced upon learning of Mary Jane’s ordeal abroad.
“We have lived a hard life before, but when she got arrested, somehow that made our lives harder,” Veloso said.
She also lamented the consequences that pushed Mary Jane to seek for greener pastures abroad, ultimately leading to her arrest in 2010.
“Mary Jane went to look for work because of poverty. As they grew up, she realized that we don’t have a lot, not even enough. She thought that marrying early would change her life, and it did. Her life was even harder, especially when she had her kids,” Veloso shared.
She added that Mary Jane would peddle food among other things to make ends meet while her husband worked as a balut vendor. One day, Mary Jane informed her family that she had been offered a job in Malaysia as a caregiver for P25,000 a month. The offer came from her neighbor, Christina Sergio, or “Ate Tintin”, as Mary Jane called her.
“When Mary Jane called me to share the news, I was adamant and told her not to go. It seemed too soon for me, but she already made up her mind. She said that with the pay offered, she could finally afford to secure her sons’ futures,” said Veloso.
“She was not even supposed to be in Indonesia. When she arrived in Malaysia, she was told that no job would be waiting for her. She had nothing so she asked for work. She was then promised work in Indonesia. They bought her clothes and luggage. Little did she know that the suitcase contained 2.6 kilograms of heroin hidden inside,” she added.
Mary Jane was then apprehended at Yogyakarta airport and was convicted of drug trafficking charges. She was on death row until the eleventh hour, amidst continuing pressure from various human rights organizations and church groups in the country and international pressure. In 2015, she was granted a reprieve from the death penalty following the arrests of Christina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, her recruiters.
Job security remains a top issue
Yet more than the calls for absolute pardon, the Veloso family also stated that Mary Jane would not have had to look for jobs abroad if there were adequate jobs in the country.
“It is poverty that pushed her to seek opportunities abroad, where her security and future is uncertain. If only jobs were adequate here, she wouldn’t have thought to go abroad,” Veloso said.
The same sentiments were echoed by Josefina Pingkian of Migrante International.
“Data from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) stated that OFWs leaving the country have actually increased. We’re seeing the figures. Approximately 7,000 OFWs are leaving per day to look for opportunities. While DMW released policies to help migrant workers to prevent human trafficking, there are still instances of violations. For example, the applications of these agencies may have passed by DMW’s standards, but when the OFWs arrive in their host countries, they are met with substitutions in the clauses they’ve signed,” Pingkian explained.
Pingkian added that while many OFWs hope to better their families’ lives through remittances, the increasing costs of living brought about by inflation serve as an added burden.
“While they may be able to remit more and have significantly higher pay abroad, the costs of everything these days prove to be too high. Most OFWs have to work two jobs or more or try other opportunities to earn more. Their remittances are not enough to secure the cost of living,” said Pingkian.
The group stated that Mary Jane’s case represents most of the hardships that OFWs have to go through in their aspirations to seek greener pastures, asserting that government support must be improved to provide the legal needs of other migrant workers who were facing the same dilemma as Mary Jane.
“The government should commit itself to protecting the rights of the migrant workers. We’ve had similar cases of OFWs facing imprisonment for varied reasons. They should look into these and provide the necessary legal remedies to help. But ultimately, we hope that Filipinos would not have had to go abroad to search for jobs. We are still campaigning for more opportunities in the country, for job security, for a livable wage. We hope that these would push the cessation of the Labor Export Program because Filipinos shouldn’t have had to risk their safety and lives abroad just to provide for their families,” Pingkian ended.
