MANILA, Philippines — The government has announced that after 14 years of detention in Indonesia, Mary Jane Veloso will return to the Philippines — but does this mean she is free?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made the formal declaration that Veloso will come home. The details of her return, however, have yet to be ironed out as discussions with Indonesian authorities are ongoing.
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Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Edurado De Vega said the Philippines was originally seeking a commutation for her sentence.
However, Indonesia is setting new policies on the return of foreign prisoners to their home countries. This offers a ray of hope for Veloso to end her decades-long imprisonment in Indonesia.
De Vega made it clear, however, that Veloso is not yet free even if she returns to the Philippines.
An immediate clemency for Veloso upon her return is not “realistic,” the official said.
“We will commit to detain her,” De Vega said in a press briefing on November 20, Wednesday.
The length of Veloso’s detention will depend on when Indonesia and the Philippines reach a mutual agreement on her clemency. But De Vega hopes it will not extend beyond a year.
As Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano puts it: the Philippines will have physical custody of Veloso, but legal custody will still be with Indonesia.
This will be the first agreement of its kind between the two countries.
While nothing is set in stone yet, Clavano said that Veloso might be detained at the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong.
Despite her detainment in the Philippines, De Vega said the end-goal is to grant Veloso clemency.
“The goal would be not just for her to be transferred but for the president to be able to issue clemency, our president,” De Vega said.
While the government hopes a Philippine president will eventually grant Veloso clemency, the country may still need Indonesia’s approval.
More than being a prisoner, however, Veloso is also a witness.
In 2015, the late president Benigno Aquino III made a last minute phone call to the Indonesian government that saved Veloso from the firing squad. He asked if Veloso could be treated as a witness instead since Veloso’s recruiter had surrendered to Philippine authorities.
The case against the recruiter is still ongoing, according to Clavano. It has long been delayed due to the difficulty of extracting testimonies from Veloso.
An entire team from the Philippines, including the judge and the prosecutors, will have to physically go to Veloso for the proceedings.
“The DOJ can request that the person of Mary Veloso be brought to the court, but ultimately, the court has to order, has to come out with an order, issue an order to CIW or any other facility where she will be staying to allow her transfer or temporary transfer to the court for the hearing,” Clavano said.
Veloso’s life has been on the line since 2010 when Indonesian authorities arrested her for drug trafficking. The Philippine government and other civil society groups have long sought Veloso's safety.
Veloso’s detention has long been a point of concern in an otherwise easy going relationship between Indonesia and the Philippines, posing both legal and diplomatic complexities.
The question of whether Mary Jane Veloso lives or dies has hung above the heads of three Philippine presidents and two Indonesian leaders.
While the Philippine government seems certain that Veloso will come home, her freedom remains up in the air.