Appeal for convicted Pinay in Indonesia continues – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - The Aquino government is doing everything possible to save a Filipina facing execution in Indonesia for drug smuggling, a Palace official said yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government was moving within Indonesia’s legal framework to spare Mary Jane Veloso from death.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario continues to exhaust all legal avenues to save Veloso from execution, Valte said.

The Indonesian Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the government’s initial appeal for judicial review of Veloso’s case.

Prior to the request for a judicial review, a plea for clemency had been dismissed by the Indonesian court.

Veloso, 30, has been sentenced to die by firing squad after she was apprehended at the Yogyakarta Airport for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin in April 2010.

Her family insisted that the heroin seized from Veloso was secretly put by a relative in her luggage.

Veloso’s relatives in the Philippines were saddened by the Indonesian court’s decision to reject the government’s appeal for a judicial review of her case.

A second appeal for judicial review is being considered, Del Rosario said.

He expressed hope that there would be no execution within the next two weeks.