Before Mary Jane Veloso got a stay of execution from the Indonesian government on April 29, the whole nation was gripped with suspense, knowing that she would be executed via firing squad. Then, the whole country woke up the following morning with the news that somehow at the very last minute, the Indonesian government found a reason to stay the execution.
Upon hearing the news, public euphoria was palpable—and rightly so. The bottled-up emotions of the public, not knowing whether all the efforts exerted by the country could save her, erupted with relief like a volcano. Everytime a Filipino imprisoned overseas is in danger of being executed, the people and government shift to high gear to find ways to try to save the life of that citizen. It is a great Filipino trait. This has happened before when another Filipino convicted in China was executed for drug trafficking in spite of efforts mounted by the country to save her.
As of this date there are about 87 Filipino citizens languishing on death row in various countries all over the world. In very few instances, some of these lives will be saved but sadly however, these Filipinos will be executed unless their sentences could be commuted to life imprisonment. When it is a matter of government policy to send our womenfolk to richer countries to work as domestics, we have to be prepared to pay the price which sometimes could be stiff.
Breakdown of the family is one clear example. The beatings, the rapes, and the working conditions fit for a slave are stories that we often read in the papers. Yet we continue to send our people abroad, calling them present-day heroes for the billions of dollars remitted to the country.
How far should the government continue with this? How many more Mary Janes do we need before the government starts reviewing this policy for a possible change? In this tragic case, did the government do enough so that her case did not have to reach this stage? I do not believe so. Perhaps we are lucky that this case happened in Indonesia, a country that has always been very close to us. At least Indonesia, wanting to find a way to grant a stay, found one. That is one reason that Mary Jane is still alive. If she were in a Chinese jail, there is no doubt that she would have been executed.
There is reason to be grateful to the Indonesian government for giving Mary Jane a glimmer of hope. Let us not therefore spoil it with our penchant for credit-grabbing. Does it really matter who or which group was responsible? If the President somehow did his part by going straight to the top of the Indonesian government and talking to them. Let us give him the credit.
The efforts of the non-government organizations both here and Indonesian that worked tirelessly should also be commended. The media which kept the story alive also deserve congratulations. The important thing is that a chance has been given to Mary Jane and I hope that we will not mess up the opportunity like the suggestion of one congressman to exchange Maria Cristina Sergio, the alleged recruiter of Mary Jane for her because according to him, Mary Jane was just a victim.
Needless to say, this congressman has the brain of a cockroach and the sophistication of a grasshopper. The case is not that simple. Going over this case, there is a lot of blame to throw around to both the Philippine and Indonesian Police as to how the case was investigated.
From available media reports, it was the Department of Foreign Affairs that represented the interest of Mary Jane when she was investigated. Reports have it that there were language problems during the investigation and trial. The trial was also swift if we compare it with the way we do it here. There seems to have been little effort to track the drug traffickers responsible for recruiting Mary Jane.
Instead, with Mary Jane caught with the 2.6 kilos of heroin, it was an open-and-shut case.
A good and thorough investigation however would have shown that Mary Jane could not have been a hard-core member of the drug smugglers. And if there is one country that should understand this, it should be Indonesia because like us, the country also sends its womenfolk to toil as domestics in other countries. They can also become victims of abuse and crime. This was shown in a much-publicized trial of an Indonesian domestic helper by a cruel employer from Hong Kong and the execution of another in Saudi Arabia.
In the Asean region, there is the association of all the Police agencies called ASEANPOL. It appears that our DFA did not use this organization to help in investigating the case of Mary Jane. Had coordination between the Indonesian Police and our Police been made, it is possible that her case would have turned out differently.
Human trafficking is one of the eleven crimes defined by the United Nations as transnational. To fight it, countries must cooperate. This cannot be solved by one country alone because this crime is committed across borders and the victims are more often than not willing victims, which makes it hard to detect and stop. Only when problems arise do authorities find out about the case. Would the persecution of Sergio and Lacanilao do the trick and save Mary Jane? Let us hope so.
Ultimately, the ideal solution is for people to find work here instead of working as domestics overseas.
