Marcos pardon to Veloso will take time: Palace
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will defer from issuing a pardon to Filipino convict Mary Jane Veloso until she arrives from Indonesia where she has been in jail for 14 years on Wednesday, Malacanang said Tuesday.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said: ''We will not talk about that yet. Let's wait for her repatriation because it's premature to speculate on what we will do."
Bersamin was interviewed by reporters at the sidelines of the Pamaskong Handog Para sa OFW (Overseas Filipino workers) Family at the Palace.
Veloso's lawyer, Edre OIalia, said there is no obstacle for Marcos to grant clemency .
After she arrives, Veloso will be serving her sentence at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City as part of the country's agreement with Indonesia for her transfer.
In 2010, Veloso was convicted for drug trafficking in Indonesia. She was sentenced to death by an Indonesian court in 2015, but it was later deferred indefinitely.
Last October, Marcos announced Veloso will be coming home after the Indonesian government allowed her to serve her sentence in the Philippines. DMS
