Convicted Pinay not yet taken to execution site

MANILA, Philippines - The Filipina sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug smuggling was not among those brought to an island for execution, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was not among the group of death row convicts taken to Nusakambangan Island, the execution site.

“All, except the Filipina, have been moved to the island,” Jose said in a press briefing.

“So that is very clear the Filipina remains in Yogyakarta,” he said.

The DFA is still awaiting the schedule of the judicial review of the case of Veloso the Philippine government requested from the Indonesia.

“We are waiting for the advice when the (Indonesian) Supreme Court begins its hearing for the judicial review,” he added.

The DFA said on March 5 that Veloso’s case reached the “final battleground” after it was endorsed to the Supreme Court of Indonesia for review.

Veloso is a 30-year-old single mother and informal worker who left the Philippines for Kuala Lumpur in 2010.

She was arrested at the Yogyakarta Airport on April 25, 2010 for possession of 2.6 kilograms of heroin.