Too early to decide on Veloso clemency: Marcos
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said Thursday that the request to grant clemency to Indonesian death row convict Mary Jane Veloso, who was repatriated to the Philippines on Wednesday, is still ''far from that''.
In an interview with reporters, Marcos said he would base the decision on the judgement of legal experts.''
“We still have to have a look at what really her status is,” Marcos said.
Veloso asked for clemency from Marcos when she was interviewed at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong.
She will be serving the remainder of her sentence, which was commuted to life imprisonment from death after heroin was discovered in her luggage in Indonesia in 2010.
“We will leave it to the judgment of our legal experts to determine whether the provision of clemency is appropriate. Indonesia didn’t give conditions but it’s really up to us. But we’re still in the preliminary stages of her repatriation,” Marcos added.
According to Domingo Cayosa, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), there was “no legal impediment” to granting Veloso clemency.
“They (Indonesian government) know that there is no death penalty in our country and they also know that based on our Constitution, the President can grant clemency. It’s in the Constitution that he has pardoning power,” Cayosa said in an interview on dzBB.
“They know that eventually, she will be granted clemency. So, there is no legal obstacle or legal impediment to the President granting her clemency. They have entrusted the decision to us,” he added.
Thousands have signed an online petition at change.org urging Marcos to pardon Veloso. As of 5 pm, there were 3,293 signatures.
Veloso was sentenced to death in 2014 but President Benigno Aquino Jr appealed to Indonesia to reconsider the verdict.
In November, Marcos said Indonesia agreed to allow Veloso to come home and serve the remainder of her sentence. DMS-Jaspearl Tan
