Filipino boxer Pacquiao visits Indonesia for case of woman drug dealer
JAKARTA, July 10 (Xinhua) — Filipino world-class boxer Manny Pacquiao made his maiden visit in Indonesia on Friday, in an effort to spare a Filipino woman named Mary Jane Veloso of execution penalty for bringing drugs to Indonesia.
Pacquiao, popularly known with his nickname ‘Pacman’, was received by Indonesian Parliament Speaker Setyo Novanto and his deputy Fadli Zon in the parliament building in the afternoon. He also expected to meet President Joko Widodo.
During his meeting with Setyo and Fadli, Pacquiao conveyed his gratitude on Indonesian authority’s move to spare the life of Mary Jane Veloso in the last minute before the execution held on April 29.
“I respect the stance of President (Joko Widodo) and legal process carried out by Indonesian government,” Pacquiao, who is also a legislator in the Philippines, told reporters in the parliament building here. Pacman, who visited Mary Jane Veloso in a Jogjakarta penitentiary earlier in the day, said that she was a victim of human trafficking, being used by a drug ring to bring illegal drugs to Indonesia.
“She did not know that,” Pacman said, adding that he believed Mary Jane’s testimony.
Pacman was eager to meet President Widodo during his visit to Indonesia.
Besides meeting with Mary Jane Veloso and the parliament members, his visit to Indonesia was meant to shoot a TV commercial for an Indonesian herbal product in Semarang, Central Java.
Mary Jane Veloso and a French drug convict Serge Atlaoui were spared from the execution in the last minutes following development of their pleas over their cases to Indonesian courts.
The operative of a drug ring that used Mary Jane Veloso turned herself in to police in the Philippines, admitting her wrongdoing that made Veloso involved in the drug smuggling activities and eventually arrested by Indonesian apparatus in Jogjakarta airport in April 2010.
Meanwhile in different occasion, Indonesian General Attorney M. Prasetyo said that Mary Jane Veloso has the chance to be freed from the execution should there is a new evidence that she was a victim of human trafficking activities.
“But it would not make her totally freed from the punishment,” Prasetyo said Friday in his office here.
He said that as of now, the sentence slapped against Mary Jane Veloso has not been changed. She was only spared from the execution, not canceled from it as her clemency was rejected by President Widodo.
Indonesia has executed 14 drug convicts in two batches of execution processes. Prasetyo said earlier that there will be another execution scheduled after Ramadan. Serge and Mary Jane would be listed in the upcoming execution, he added.
Execution against drug convicts was initiated by President Widodo as a part of a war against drug abuse activities that have been rampant in the country.
