THE family of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso, who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has received the execution order for her, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.
In a meeting on Friday night, Indonesia’s prosecutor gave the notice letter to the family, informing them of the impending execution, but no date was indicated as to when it will be done, DFA Spokesman Charles Jose said in a news statement.
“The Attorney General’s Office [AGO] will announce it,” he said. “The prosecutor does not know the exact date of execution.”
Veloso, 30, who was caught carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage at the Yogyakarta Airport in 2010, has maintained her innocence, insisting she was tricked into bringing the drug-laden suitcase by a Filipino friend who also acted as her recruiter.
As a policy, Indonesia gives embassies a 72-hour notice before the date of execution of foreign prisoners.
Jose said the 72-hour count will only begin once the AGO announces the date.
In the same meeting, Jose said the prosecutor clarified arrangements for the family’s visit to Veloso in Nusa Kambangan, a maximum detention facility in an island where death row prisoners are transferred for execution.
The family and lawyers were scheduled to go to the prison on Saturday, he said.
Jose also said that Indonesian Foreign Ministry officials met representatives from six embassies who have death convicts.
The Philippine government filed another appeal on Friday in a last-ditch effort to save Veloso’s life, but officials say the appeal is not a guarantee that it can prevent the execution.
Veloso will be the first Filipino to be executed in a Southeast Asian country in 20 years.
Flor Contemplacion, the Filipino domestic helper found guilty of murder, was put to death in Singapore in 1995.