The mother of Mary Jane Veloso, Celia, with her family, speaking during Labour Day celebration at Mendiola in Manila in 2015. - PDI
MANILA: The mother of Mary Jane Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker on Indonesian death row for drug trafficking, said her daughter may not be safe in the Philippines.
Veloso’s mom, Celia, was reacting to the announcement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr that her daughter would be sent back to the Philippines after 14 years in an Indonesian jail.
Manila and Jakarta agreed on Veloso’s return to the Philippines, but it remains unclear if she would still be imprisoned upon her return.
For Celia, it would be better for her daughter to stay detained in Indonesia than be jailed in the Philippines.
“For me, for our family, if Mary Jane is brought home and would still be imprisoned, I would rather that she stay imprisoned in Indonesia,” Celia said in a dwPM interview.
She then explained: “Because we feel safer because we see the treatment of Mary Jane whom they love so much. But here in the Philippines, we are not sure because we are against an international syndicate."
In 2010, Veloso was arrested at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin.
Veloso maintained she was unaware of the contents of her luggage as it was only given by her recruiters, identified as Julius Lacanilao and Maria Cristina Sergio. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
