VP Binay Thanks Indonesian President for Veloso Reprieve

(PNA) – Vice President Jejomar Binay thanked Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday for postponing the execution of Filipino drug convict Mary Jane Veloso.

”I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the government of Indonesia, most especially to His Excellency President Widodo for his act of compassion,” Binay said in a press statement.

Binay welcomed the reprieve given by the Indonesian government to Veloso who was caught with 2.6 kilograms of heroin upon entering the international airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2010.

”Her reprieve was the result of our collective action and prayers, of our faith in God and our unity as a people. Let us continue to pray for Mary Jane and her family,” Binay said.

Binay also expressed his personal gratitude to Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla “for listening with sympathy to my appeal during our official and unofficial encounters in Jakarta.”

”And my humble and sincere thanks to former President Megawati Sukarnoputri for giving me the opportunity in Bandung to personally discuss with her our humanitarian appeal for Mary Jane,” Binay said.

The Indonesian government on Wednesday morning came out with a decision to postpone the execution through firing squad of Veloso after President Benigno S. Aquino III personally appealed Veloso’s case to Widodo during the 26th Association Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Malaysia. (PNA) SCS/JFM