The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that Mary Jane Veloso has become a state witness and a complainant against her alleged recruiter.
“The stay was granted based on our request for Mary Jane to be able to testify in connection with the cases filed against the recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio,” Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said in a press briefing.
Veloso was set to be executed in the wee hours of April 29 but was spared by a last-minute reprieve from the Indonesian government. The alleged recruiter surrendered to the authorities the day before, claiming that she has been receiving death threats. The recruiter’s move was hailed by the Department of Foreign Affairs as a significant development factored in by Indonesia in granting the Filipina’s reprieve.
Veloso Execution stopped
“I think the surrender of Sergio played a big part in Veloso’s reprieve. Initially, we have notified the Indonesian government that we have filed cases (against Sergio). But the surrender of the recruiter made our case even stronger,” Jose said.
He also added that Veloso will become a complainant in the cases filed against Sergio.
Meanwhile, Jose said that on the scheduled date of the execution, Veloso was returned to her original cell in Wirogunan Prison in Yogyakarta and out of the Nusakambangan maximum security prison, also known as the “execution island.”
The DFA has also made arrangements for her family to visit her in prison.
The idea of turning Veloso into a witness against her recruiter was suggested by President Benigno Aquino III to Indonesia foreign minister Retno Marsudi while he was in Malaysia for the 26th Asean Summit on Tuesday. Aquino told Marsudi that it was only recently that the Filipina former domestic helper divulged information about the drug syndicate which duped her, thus the last-minute proposition.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo then set a meeting with a migrant organization and his Cabinet Tuesday evening to discuss Veloso’s case.
Eight other drug convicts were shot by firing squad
The Filipina was spared but eight other drug convicts from Brazil, Australia, Indonesia and Nigeria were executed, defying international pressure.
Veloso was caught at the Yogyakarta Airport with 2.6 kilograms of heroin in 2010. She was convicted of drug trafficking during the same year but later claimed she was not provided with a competent interpreter.