By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
An Indonesian court has rejected a Filipina death row inmate’s case review request, despite the Philippines’ president appealing for clemency from his Indonesian counterpart the same day.
Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said Monday evening that the country’s embassy in Jakarta had confirmed that the Sleman District Court rejected the second petition for a judicial review of the case of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, 30.
“Our Embassy has confirmed that the 2nd appeal was rejected,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Jose as saying.
“Embassy is now asking the lawyers to determine whether President Benigno Aquino III’s discussions with President [Joko] Widodo may open another window,” he added.
Veloso is among eight foreigners and one Indonesian set to face the firing squad as early as Tuesday after they were issued 72-hour execution notices Saturday.
The district court rejected Veloso’s second review petition Monday on the grounds that her first petition – the only one permitted by the Supreme Court -- had been rejected in March.
The Philippines had submitted the second appeal Friday with new evidence aimed at showing that Veloso had been a victim of human trafficking.
Earlier on Monday, Aquino had asked Widodo for clemency on the sidelines of the 26th ASEAN Summit in Malaysia.
The Philippines’ communications secretary said in a statement that Aquino had asked for “humanitarian consideration for Mary Jane Veloso who was apparently duped into being an unwitting carrier of illegal drugs.”
Rappler reported that Herminio Coloma Jr. said, “President Widodo was sympathetic and was consulting with the Indonesian Attorney General on the legal issues. President Widodo promised to resume the conversation with President Aquino later today.”
Indonesia’s foreign minister Retno Marsudi had confirmed the short meeting, but did not address the possible results regarding Veloso’s sentencing.
Veloso, a single mother of two sons who sought work in Malaysia as a maid, was arrested while smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport, Java island, in April 2010.
Her family has insisted that she is innocent and was tricked into smuggling the drugs by the wife of a family friend who promised her a job in Indonesia.
Since being placed in isolation cells over the weekend, the death row inmates have been expressing their last wishes and receiving visits from family members who have been traveling to the penal island of Nusa Kambangan.
Veloso has requested that she spend her last night with family, and for her remains to be brought back to the Philippines.
The prisoners concerned are: Martin Anderson from Ghana, Zainal Abidin from Indonesia, Rodrigo Gularte (Brazil), Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso (the Philippines), Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (Australia), and Okwudili Oyatanze, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Raheem Agbajee Salami (Nigeria, although Salami is travelling on a Spanish passport).
