Philippines to bring home woman drug convict from Indonesia

A Philippine woman spared execution in Indonesia on charges of drug trafficking in 2015 will return home after years of negotiations between the Southeast Asian neighbours, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Wednesday.

Mary Jane Veloso, a domestic helper and mother of two, was arrested in the city of Yogyakarta, for carrying 2.6kg of heroin concealed in a suitcase in 2010.

"Eventually, the goal is not just for her to be transferred, but for our president to ... issue clemency," foreign ministry official Eduardo Jose de Vega told a news conference in Manila, the capital.

Indonesia has not sought anything in return for Veloso's transfer, the timing of which has yet to be decided, he added.

Veloso will be transferred in December, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia's chief minister for law and human rights, said in a statement.

Veloso was spared from the firing squad at the last minute in 2015, after Philippine officials asked Joko Widodo, then Indonesia's president, to let her testify against members of a human- and drug-smuggling ring.

The execution of eight other drug convicts went ahead, with Veloso's reprieve described as a postponement by Widodo, whose presidential term ended last month.

People in the Philippines had held protest vigils and celebrated masses in demonstrations against her execution.

"After over a decade of diplomacy and consultations with the Indonesian government, we managed to delay her execution long enough to reach an agreement to finally bring her back to the Philippines," Marcos said in a statement.

He hailed the neighbours' shared commitment to justice and compassion, and thanked Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Prabowo's office said Veloso would serve the rest of her sentence in the Philippines, citing diplomacy and reciprocal partnership in law enforcement as the reason for her transfer.

"We are happy that Mary Jane will be back home," her mother, Celia Veloso, told radio station DWPM, though adding that the family still worried that international syndicates involved in the case would harm Veloso and their relatives.

Veloso had always maintained her innocence, saying she was an unwitting drug mule for a Philippine employment recruiter. Previously a domestic worker in Dubai, she left to escape an abusive employer, her legal team had said.

Court records say the recruiter asked Veloso to fly to the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta from Manila to hand a suitcase to a man. She was arrested after authorities there discovered heroin wrapped in foil hidden in the lining of her luggage.

Indonesia has harsh anti-narcotics laws and has executed several foreign nationals, including two Australians, who were leaders of the Bali Nine trafficking ring, in 2015.

Reuters