Netizens and outright Aquino supporters were in uproar calling Mary Jane Veloso’s mom Celia an ingrate after she revealed in a Labor Day rally that President Aquino had nothing to do with her daughter’s reprieve from execution.
At the same time, Migrante unveiled a timeline that showed government disinterest in Mary Jane’s case and other bureaucratic lapses that showed they only hired an Indonesian law firm to help her after the courts there handed her a death sentence.
The prospect of a successful prosecution of the ring for which Kristina Pasadilla, Mary Jane Veloso’s recruiter, allegedly works for is widely viewed as a key factor in getting Indonesian authorities to grant Veloso a permanent reprieve.
President Benigno Aquino III conveyed the proposal to make Veloso a key witness against the syndicate she says had trafficked her.
In the Friday press conference with Migrante, however, Celia Veloso said they had erred in thinking it was primarily Mr. Aquino who was key to helping their daughter. She did not elaborate.
Apparently reacting to Celia Veloso’s remarks about government’s shortcomings in her daughter’s case that may have doomed her legal battle from the start, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued this statement:
“The Philippine Government has and continues to extend its assistance to Mary Jane Veloso and her family. We have already gone on record on this. The Department of Foreign Affairs had consistently been updating the public of the Philippine Government’s efforts, from providing legal assistance, undertaking representations at the highest levels of the Indonesian Government to coordinating prison visits of Mary Jane’s family, including covering their cost of travel.
“Moreover, we are committed to pursuing the complaints filed against Mary Jane’s recruiter as this was vital in securing the reprieve of Mary Jane.
“We believe that focusing on this most important objective will help Mary Jane more at this time.”
Earlier on Thursday, the support group Migrante had released a timeline of the past five years’ events, detailing crucial points where bureaucratic lapses may have proven costly for Veloso’s case.
In one entry, the private Indonesian law firm hired belatedly by the DFA after Veloso’s conviction in a district court in October 2010 had recommended strongly, way back January 2011, that the Philippine government prosecute Kristina Sergio’s group to buttress their defense that Veloso is a victim of human trafficking. That did not happen until 2015.
#SaveMaryJane TIMELINE OF EVENTS:
2010
January – Mary Jane returned to the Philippines after working for ten months as a domestic worker in Dubai. She returned to Manila without finishing her two-year contract because her employer attempted to rape her.
April 18 – Mary Jane was approached by her friend Ma. Kristina “Tintin” Sergio, a resident of Talavera, and was promised a job as a domestic worker in Malaysia. She was illegally recruited.
April 21 – Mary Jane and Tintin left for Malaysia. When they arrived in Malaysia, Tintin told her that the supposed job was no longer available but she could still find work elsewhere. They stayed there for a few days before Tintin sent her to Indonesia allegedly for a seven-day holiday, after which she would go back to Malaysia for employment.
