Mary Jane Veloso is back in the country. But she is not back in her home. There are protocols to be observed.
She describes her repatriation as a “miracle.” It will be more precise to describe her case as the outcome of patient and proper diplomacy.
According to her family’s account, Mary Jane was minutes away from execution by firing squad when she received a reprieve from former Indonesian President Widodo. The reprieve was obviously a gesture of friendship after Filipino officials at the highest levels pleaded her case. Her sentence was subsequently reduced to life imprisonment.
The decision to repatriate Mary Jane was not unique. At about the same time her repatriation was announced, several Australians sentenced for drug trafficking were likewise returned to the custody of their own government.
None of the repatriations of convicted criminals are reported to have conditions attached to them by the Indonesia government. Indonesia officials have taken pains to make it appear the repatriations were as routine as possible.
Our diplomats deserve all the credit for their relentless but polite efforts. They tried very hard not to offend Jakarta or to undermine the credibility of her tough anti-drug laws. While our diplomats were unrelenting, they were never pushy. Indonesia is a close ally.
The repatriation of Mary Jane is a happy event. Her return signals to our millions of migrant workers that our government has their back, that every effort will be exerted to ensure they are well treated abroad – even as they may have committed offenses. In the case of Mary Jane, her conviction is on solid legal grounds. Being tricked into performing as a drug mule is not a mitigating factor in the eyes of the law.
It must always be clear that Mary Jane returns as a repatriated convict. She is the first case, as I recall, of a convicted Filipino being repatriated. Therefore, her case must be handled with utmost propriety. How we treat Mary Jane will be a reference for other governments considering repatriating other Filipino convicts.
So far, all the protocols involved in this unique case of a repatriated convict are being observed. The airport reception did not degenerate into a circus of sloganeering demonstrators and weeping kin. Arriving by commercial flight, Mary Jane was whisked to detention at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW).
At the CIW, she will undergo a five-day quarantine period. After that, she will undergo 55 days of orientation, diagnostic evaluation and initial security classification. This is the protocol being scrupulously observed.
Leftist groups are trying to insinuate themselves into this diplomatic victory, demanding that Mary Jane meet her family at the airport and then asking the President to immediately pardon her. The routine arrival is done. An immediate pardon will be bad form.
Mary Jane was repatriated to serve her sentence here. We should honor Indonesian laws covering her conviction. A hurried pardon could displease Jakarta.
Other governments considering repatriating other Filipino convicts are watching this case closely.
Unseemly
The local politics in the province of Abra could put the magical realism of South American literature to shame. In the tradition of magical realism, everything seems normal except that they are slightly disproportionate or subtly disjointed.
In Abra, the long-standing rivalries between the dominant political clans produce events that seem unreal even if they are.
Earlier this month, Abra Governor Dominic Valera and Vice Governor Maria Jocelyn Valera-Bernos jointly issued a press statement denouncing a “coordinated political attack” mounted by their political opponents. The attack includes baseless accusations, suspicious suspension orders and abject disregard for due process.
This particular episode began with a complaint for graft filed at the ombudsman in 2020 for certain acts related to the province’s response to the pandemic. The provincial executives shut down a provincial hospital as a measure to help contain infections. On May 4, 2022, the ombudsman dismissed the complaints for lack of merit. But the story did not end there because the ombudsman’s ruling was effectively countermanded.
Parallel administrative cases were filed with the Office of the President. This means the cases are reviewed by the Executive Secretary, former justice Lucas Bersamin. Specifically, the cases are handled by Adrian Bersamin, chief of staff for the Executive Secretary. Responding to these cases, the Office of the Executive Secretary issued an order of rather questionable legality suspending the Governor and the Vice Governor. The order appoints an Acting Governor for Abra.
Imaginably, the suspension order despite the ombudsman’s dismissal of the complaints throws Abra’s provincial government into a state of confusion. The sitting officials intend to seek remedies from a regular court. But that might still be overridden by politics.
Objectivity is sometimes rare in this country. But this case takes the cake.
Eustaquio “Takit” Bersamin is vying for governor of Abra in the May 2025 elections. Anne Bersamin, mother of Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, is running for vice governor. They are facing the sitting Governor Dominic Valera and sitting Vice Governor Maria Jocelyn Valera-Bernos.
The Valeras are running under President Marcos Jr.’s political coalition. On this basis, the Vice Governor has written to the President to take a close look at this case and mediate the conflict between her family and the family of the Executive Secretary.
Personally reviewing the case might, of course, interfere with the presidential workload. But the people of Abra need assurance their local government is functioning.