Filipina on Indonesia death row arrives home to ‘new life’

A Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on Indonesia's death row tearfully reunited with family members Wednesday after arriving in Manila, where she now awaits a hoped-for pardon in a women's prison.

Mother of two Mary Jane Veloso landed at daybreak, then was immediately transferred to prison following a repatriation deal between the two countries over a decade in the making.

Technically still serving a life sentence, how long she remains behind bars is now in the hands of President Ferdinand Marcos.

The 39-year-old was arrested and sentenced to death in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin, in a case that sparked uproar in the Philippines.

Veloso wept as she hugged one of her sons and her parents Wednesday inside the Correctional Institution for Women in Manila, where she is being detained under the terms of a transfer agreement with Indonesia that removed the possibility of execution.

She flew home without handcuffs alongside Filipino correctional officials on an overnight commercial flight after a Jakarta ceremony marking "the end of a harrowing chapter in Veloso's life", the corrections bureau said in a statement.

"I hope our president (Ferdinand Marcos) will give me clemency so I can go back to my family. I had been in jail in Indonesia for 15 years over something I did not commit," Veloso, her voice breaking, told reporters after undergoing a medical examination at the Manila prison.

"We call on our president to grant Mary Jane clemency soon. We hope he will do this as a Christmas gift to us," her mother Celia Veloso added.

Mary Jane Veloso is hugged by her sons. Reuters

In a Wednesday statement, Marcos thanked Indonesia for turning over custody, but made no mention of a pardon or clemency.

Under the agreement, Veloso's life sentence now falls under the Philippines' purview, "including the authority to grant clemency, remission, amnesty and similar measures".

"Definitely, that's on the table," Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez told reporters on Wednesday, adding Veloso's clemency bid would be "seriously studied".

She will serve out her life sentence if not pardoned, Vasquez added.

Indonesia's government has said it will respect any decision made by Manila.

'Reciprocity' provision

After her scheduled 2015 execution by firing squad was stayed at the last minute, Veloso became a poster child for her country's 10 million-strong economic diaspora, many of whom take jobs as domestic workers abroad to escape poverty at home.

Marcos said last month that Veloso's tale resonated in the Philippines as "a mother trapped by the grip of poverty, who made one desperate choice that altered the course of her life".

The reprieve was granted after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested on human trafficking charges and Veloso was named as a prosecution witness.

The Veloso deal includes a "reciprocity" provision. "If Indonesia requests similar assistance in the future, the Philippines shall fulfill such a request," the agreement states.

There has been intense press speculation that Jakarta would seek custody of Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian detained on drug charges in the Philippines earlier this year.

He is also being sought by Jakarta over drug smuggling, which could land him the death penalty.

Vasquez said Wednesday that Haas' transfer was "not on the table", but that were it requested, Indonesia's decision to transfer Veloso would "be considered with great weight".

Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past, but new President Prabowo Subianto has agreed to fulfil some requests to hand back prisoners.

Indonesia last week transferred home the five remaining members of Australia's "Bali Nine", a group of drug-trafficking convicts, two of whom were executed.

It is also in talks with France over the release of Serge Atlaoui, jailed in the archipelago nation since his 2005 arrest.

'Miracle'

Before leaving Jakarta, Veloso sang the Indonesian national anthem and proclaimed her love for the country, though she is now banned from ever returning.

"This is a new life for me, and I will have a new beginning in the Philippines," a tearful Veloso told reporters.

"I have to go home because I have a family there, I have my children waiting for me," she said, adding she wanted to spend Christmas with them.

"I am very happy today, but to be honest I am a little sad, because Indonesia has been my second family," Veloso added.

In her first interview since the repatriation agreement, Veloso told AFP on Friday that her release was a "miracle".

According to Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, as of early November.

Agence France-Presse