Press Release
September 12, 2016

Statement of Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the pending execution
of Mary Jane Veloso

I read the article from the online edition of Jakarta Post. President Widodo apparently said that our President has given the go ahead to proceed with the execution. This means he will no longer intercede, and that saving Veloso's life is no longer the policy of the President. There is still much confusion in this, as Secretary Yasay has said that as a result of the meeting of the two Presidents, the execution has been held off indefinitely. Malacanang should clarify what actually happened.

The fate of Mary Jane and saving her life has been important to us in the Aquino Administration, especially the DOJ which provided the Indonesian govt the legal basis to hold the execution in abeyance using the mutual cooperation treaty between the Philippines and Indonesia on the prosecution of crimes. We provided Indonesia legal basis to hold off the execution by catching her recruiters and telling Indonesia we need her to prosecute them.

Now it appears all our efforts have come to nothing, because the President is a firm believer in the death penalty and the punishment of those convicted of drug trafficking, and these personal beliefs are now our government's foreign policy insofar as the fate of Veloso is concerned.

I am sad and heartbroken that the President will throw away all our efforts to save a life just like that, when it is still in his power to request for the holding off of the execution.

But then again, magtataka pa ba tayo, e sa mismong bansa natin, araw-araw mahigit kwarenta katao na ang napapatay nang walang paglilitis. So ano pa nga ba ang kwenta talaga ng buhay ng isa pang Mary Jane Veloso. Mapa-judicial o extra-judicial execution, yan na ang polisiya ng gobyerno.

Nakakalungkot. Nakakaiyak. Nakakahindik.

News Latest News Feed