Manila. The National Democratic Front of the Philippines, an alliance of communist-led underground organizations in the country, has called on its Indonesian allies to lobby on behalf of a Filipina woman who is facing execution in Yogyakarta.

“We asked our allies [in Indonesia] to mobilize mass organizations to lobby on behalf of Mary Jane [Veloso],” said Connie Ledesma, a member of the NDFP panel negotiating peace with the Philippine government.

Veloso is facing execution in Indonesia after she was convicted of smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin in 2010. Her family maintain that she is innocent, saying she was a victim of a drug syndicate.

“[We] will try all that we can to mobilize people, especially in the countryside, to help the family of Mary Jane,” sad Luis Jalandoni, the NDFP chairman.

However, he admitted that the NDF “has limited powers” to pressure the Philippine government to act on Veloso’s case.

“[The government] is not even talking to us about peace,” he said, adding that the case of Veloso should have been included as part of the social and economic reforms agenda of the peace negotiations.

Jalandoni and Ledesma, who live in exile in the Netherlands, are in Manila this month for consultations on the prospects of the resumption of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the NDFP.

The country’s Catholic bishops, meanwhile, urged Filipinos “to storm the heavens with prayers” to save Veloso.

“At this time, it is important for all of us to be one in prayer to save Jane’s life,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos on Balanga, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People of the bishops’ conference.

“We storm heavens with prayers that she be saved from this tragic fate,” Santos said, adding that people should also pray for government officials to work hard to get a reprieve for Veloso.

Santos said Church leaders in the country join the appeal to Indonesian authorities to spare Veloso the death penalty “because every life is precious as it comes from God.”

The Protestant National Council of Churches in the Philippines has also called on the public to unite in praying and calling on the Indonesian government to heed the appeal by the United Nations for clemency for Veloso.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said the government had been doing its best to save Veloso. Spokesman Charles Jose said the Philippine government was considering “all options,” including another appeal before Indonesia’s Supreme Court.

“Veloso’s is yet another case of the Philippine government doing a little too late,” Gary Martinez of the migrant group Migrante told UCANews.com.

Veloso was arrested in 2010 and was not assigned a lawyer until the last minute, Martinez noted. “Such had been the Philippine government’s tact, it had so far failed to show transparency or accountability for failing to save the lives of Filipinos on death row,” he said.

Should Veloso’s execution push through, she would be the eighth Filipino executed since 2010 when President Benigno Aquino came to power.

Martinez said it was the most number of executions of Filipinos on death row under one administration since the Philippine labor export policy was implemented in the 1970s.

This story was first published by UCANews and was edited for style by the Jakarta Globe.

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Mary Jane Veloso’s son, father and mother protest outside the Indonesian Embassy in Manila. Veloso is on death row for drug trafficking. (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

Manila. The family of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina woman facing execution in Indonesia for smuggling drugs in 2010, sought the help of the country’s Catholic bishops on Friday after “suspicious-looking men” came to their village asking for the whereabouts of the family.

“They started coming when we came out in the news,” said Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother. “They have come and gone several times already. They would ask our neighbors [about us], but would leave immediately when told where we live,” she said.

“We are afraid. We cannot sleep anymore. I am worried about my grandchildren,” she said.

Celia said that a woman named Maria Kristina Sergio, the person who brought Mary Jane to Indonesia, had earlier warned the family not to speak to anyone about Mary Jane’s case.

“[Sergio] said she was part of an international drug syndicate. She told us not to ask for help and not to tell the media, or Mary Jane would be killed in jail and they would come after us,” Celia said.

Celia said Sergio recruited Mary Jane to work in Malaysia before asking her to traffic heroin to Indonesia.

Mary Jane was caught at Yogyakarta airport carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin on a flight from Malaysia in April 2010.

Sergio went into hiding after news of Mary Jane’s impending execution emerged earlier this year.

Garry Martinez, chairman of the international migrant group Migrante, called on the Philippine authorities to arrest Sergio, saying it could be “leverage for the government’s appeal for clemency for Mary Jane.”

“We cannot fathom why, up to this day, authorities have dilly-dallied in arresting and prosecuting Mary Jane’s alleged trafficker,” Martinez said in a statement.

Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Public Affairs Committee of the bishops’ conference, said the bishops would discuss how best to help the Veloso family.

“Let us see what possible intervention the Church can do to [help] secure the family,” Secillano said.

Edre Olalia, secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, said “fast and furious steps” in local and international venues were being explored to prevent Mary Jane’s execution.

Olalia, who leads a recently formed legal team for the “Save Mary Jane Veloso” campaign, did not give details of the legal appeal.

Meanwhile, Celia Veloso said: “My only request is for my daughter to be freed. That is the only wish of our family … that is my only wish for them to help my daughter be released.”

Authorities in Jakarta are yet to announce the execution date for Veloso and several others convicted of drug trafficking.

Veloso is being held on an island prison off Central Java with eight other foreigners awaiting execution.

This story was first published by UCANews and was edited for style by the Jakarta Globe.

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