MANILA, Philippines – After the family of Mary Jane Veloso was unable to meet with her at the airport following her arrival from Indonesia early Wednesday, December 18, they were finally reunited when she was brought to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City.
Veloso’s parents Cesar and Celia, and sons Mark Daniel and Mark Darren, were at the CIW along with other family members and supporters.
The Veloso family had been dismayed when they were unable to even catch a glimpse of Mary Jane at the airport. Under tight security, she was immediately escorted to a vehicle and brought to the CIW.
The Bureau of Corrections said on Tuesday, December 17, that Veloso will first be quarantined for five days. This is part of the BuCor’s protocol for newly committed persons deprived of liberty.
During the quarantine, she will undergo medical observation and physical examination to check if she is suffering from any physical or mental illness. Afterwards, she will undergo a 55-day orientation, diagnostic evaluation, and initial security classification, and then given her assigned corrections facility.
The BuCor said Veloso’s family can also visit her at the CIW on Christmas Eve, December 24, as her quarantine period would be over by then.
“The BuCor chief (Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr.) also assured the public and Veloso’s family that Mary Jane and her alleged illegal recruiter will be confined [in] separate facilities so they will not see each other,” added the corrections bureau.
In late November, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that Indonesia agreed to transfer custody of Veloso to the Philippines. The overseas Filipino worker had been on Indonesia’s death row for more than a decade due to drug smuggling.
Veloso was arrested in 2010, but she has always maintained her innocence, saying that she was tricked by her recruiters into becoming a drug mule.
On Sunday, December 15, Veloso’s family learned that she was transferred from her jail in Yogyakarta to Jakarta to “start the process for her transfer to the Philippines.” A day later, an Indonesian official announced the date of her repatriation. – Rappler.com