Marcos urged to renew clemency appeal for Veloso after Indonesia's leadership change

MANILA, Philippines — Calls are mounting for the Philippine government to press for Mary Jane Veloso's clemency anew after Indonesia swore in a new president last week for the first time in a decade.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday, October 20 — an event that lawyer Edre Olalia said should prompt the president to seek Veloso's release from Indonesia's new leaders based on humanitarian grounds.

Veloso was jailed, and then later sentenced to death, after being unwittingly duped into carrying drugs at an Indonesian airport in 2010. Five years later, she was spared from execution at the eleventh hour after then-President Benigno Aquino III made a direct appeal to then-President Joko Widodo.  

"On the part of the Philippine government, I think it's a good time to renew the call for any form of clemency for our distressed kababayan who has been in jail since 2010," said Olalia, who is among Veloso's lawyers in the Philippines. 

"That's a long time already given that she — on the basis of the facts in our — is a victim of human trafficking. She deserves to go home," Olalia told Philstar.com.

Veloso's case in Indonesia is technically terminated as her plea has been denied, Olalia said, which is why the campaign for her clemency is "grounded more for the greater reason of humanitarian considerations and not so much on legal grounds."

The human rights lawyer emphasized that Marcos and Prabowo, both heads of state, have the capacity to resolve the matter politically. "A lot of things that are traditionally and customarily are difficult to attain in the legal venues can be resolved in the political sphere," he added.

In January, Widodo vowed to reexamine the case of Veloso after a direct appeal from Marcos during the Indonesian leader's three-day visit to Manila. 

However, the Philippines was also told that the Indonesian government was "waiting for the decision of the Philippine court" on a case filed against Veloso's recruiters, which served as the basis for Indonesia to suspend Veloso's execution in 2015.

This marked the Philippines' last publicly reported high-level attempt to convince Widodo to