Mary Jane Veloso, on death row in Indonesia, is coming home. To be sure, she would still be a prisoner, but at least she would serve out the rest of her sentence in a Philippine jail.
Veloso was arrested in Yogyakarta in April 2010 for possession of 2.6 kilos of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October of the same year. Subsequently, the appeals court and Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.
Veloso insisted she knew nothing about the drugs she carried, and the person who roped her into the scheme was later on charged with illegal recruitment, human trafficking, and estafa. The appeals continued even as Veloso was already transported to Nusa Kumbangan Island, known to some as “execution island.” Her execution was scheduled but was suspended at the last minute.
In January this year, the Philippines received a commitment from outgoing President Joko Widodo that the case would be reviewed. His successor, President Prabowo Subianto, made good on that commitment. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced Wednesday that the two countries had reached an agreement to bring Veloso home, even as there is no written agreement yet as of press time Thursday.
Veloso’s family is expectedly elated. Mary Jane is not the first among them to venture outside the country to search for better income opportunities. She will likely not be the last. Across the country, and for decades, Filipinos have been shedding the comfort and safety of home to try their luck at working overseas. The rewards could be substantial enough to improve their families’ quality of life back home, but as we know too painfully and too well, the risks are likewise great.
It is a good development that a Department of Migrant Workers has been created, even as it betrays a resignation to the fact that labor migration will be a fixture in our society for the foreseeable future. Acknowledging the situation at hand, the government must not lose steam in its efforts toward the constant education, awareness, and care of departing workers so that they may not find themselves in situations where they could not defend themselves. If we are not able to protect our people all the time, we should be earnest in enabling them to protect themselves.
Saying migrant workers are heroes may be a cliche, but it’s also still true. We only need to see them in a nuanced light such that each person has a story, as well as strengths and vulnerabilities, that will likely determine how they fare in their stints abroad.
It is not all bad, too – there are many success stories among our migrants. But the not-so-good developments, especially when our citizens run into conflict with the law of their destination countries, or when their rights are trampled on, or when their safety is threatened, should serve as a constant reminder that we could do better in doing right by our migrants.
