Rody eyes meeting Mary Jane during Indonesia visit

MANILA, Philippines - If there is an opportunity, President Duterte will meet Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina sentenced to death in Indonesia for trafficking 2.6 kilos of heroin in 2010.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, however, did not provide details.

He also did not confirm if the family of Veloso, who went to Malacañang yesterday to seek an audience, was able to talk with any official.

Migrante International, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers, tweeted that they went to the Palace with the parents of Veloso and were “welcomed and received” by officials. Duterte was in Davao City yesterday.

Duterte, who is scheduled to visit Indonesia on Sept. 8 to 9 after attending the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) summit in Laos and a visit to Brunei, said earlier “I’m praying that I could do something for” Veloso amid his illegal drug war that had resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 people.

He said Veloso, a native of Nueva Ecija province, was among the Filipinos jailed abroad on drug-related cases.

Duterte maintains his administration does not sanction or condone extrajudicial killings and that authorities are carrying out their duties to end the drug menace. Police said they were conducting investigations into the deaths outside of their legitimate operations to determine who were behind them.

Veloso was spared from execution in April 2015 as the Philippine government argued that it would need her to testify against her alleged recruiter Maria Kristina Sergio.

She has two young children who were allowed to visit her in prison earlier this year.

Sergio allegedly tricked Veloso into bringing a suitcase that contained heroin to Indonesia.

Throughout her trial, Veloso maintained innocence.

She was given a reprieve after reports came out that Sergio surrendered to the police and amid repeated appeals from the previous administration.