Gabriela expressed outrage at the deafening silence of the US-Marcos regime regarding the urgent issue of clemency for Mary Jane Veloso.
Veloso returned to the Philippines from Indonesia six months ago, after years of campaigning by women’s groups and human rights advocates inside and outside the country. Despite this, she remains imprisoned.
“Mary Jane Veloso has endured 15 years of unspeakable suffering, first on death row in Indonesia and now, despite her repatriation, confined within Philippine prison walls. Her case is a stark indictment of the systemic failures that continue to prey on vulnerable Filipino migrant workers, robbing them of their dignity, their freedom, and their very lives,” Gabriela secretary general Clarise Palce said.
Veloso’s lawyer, Atty. Edre Olalia, also expressed disappointment over her situation. “It was ‘ironic’ to keep Veloso behind bars in her home country where she did not commit any crime. No legal, political and moral reason exists for Mr. Marcos not to use his absolute prerogative to grant clemency to the former domestic worker who spent over 14 years on death row in Indonesia.”
According to the Indonesian government, the issue of rehabilitation, pardon, or clemency is now the responsibility of the Philippine government.
“We ask, what is the President waiting for? It is immoral and inhumane to let a clear victim of human trafficking languish in jail, while her perpetrators, already convicted of similar crimes against other victims, escape the full accountability,” Palce stressed.
Gabriela calls on Marcos Jr. to use his power to grant Veloso absolute clemency. The group also calls on all women and human rights advocates, migrant organizations, and citizens to unite for the freedom of Mary Jane.
