Update for Mary Jane Veloso's case

The 30 years old Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso was expected to be executed on Tuesday April 28, 2015 in prison island Nusakambangan in Cilacap, Indonesia. She will be executed with 8 others: two from Australia, one from Brazil, four from Africa, and one from Indonesia. Veloso was arrested and sentence to death in 2010 for attempting to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia. She has been on Indonesia's death row for the fast five years. But on last minute before her execution, Indonesian President Joko Widodo decide to delay her execution to ensure she get's ''justice'', following the new developments in her case here in Philippines. Widodo made the statement on Wednesday, April 29 , several hours after the Indonesian government announced the delay of Veloso's execution that he maintained and ''listens and pays attention to human rights activist''.

The decision to delay the execution was taken by President Widodo after receiving reports about an ongoing legal process in the Philippines. He said, ''because the legal process is still ongoing, we must ensure Mary Jane Veloso deserves justice''. Veloso's alleged recruiter, Maria Christina Sergio, surrendered to police on Tuesday. The Philippine Department of Justice is set to begin its preliminary investigation on Sergio and two others allegedly involved in the Veloso case on May 8. Sergio, her partner Julius Lacanilao, and a certain ''Ike'' have been charged with human trafficking, illegal recruitment, and estafa. But Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, clarified that the delay in the execution “does not cancel the death penalty” on Veloso. There was a new evidence. We respect the law in the Philippines and we will clarify. The law will still go on, but this does not cancel the death penalty. At this stage, this does not cancel the execution, Purdijatno said. He added that following Sergio’s surrender, “we will question Mary Jane as a witness''.

My conclusion is:  Never accept bags from strangers!

In foreign airports,  especially, you might meet kababayans who have gone over their baggage limits and request you to pass off one of their bags as yours. Don't do it!

You don't know what those bags contain. Politely but firmly decline. It's good to be kind;  but it's better to be safe, especially when you're traveling. Let them hate you by not helping them, all the love in the world won't save you if those bags happen to contain illegal substances. And even if those bags contain nothing but chocolate bars, excess baggage is an avoidable problem, and it shouldn't be YOUR problem. You shouldn't have to take the risk. It is probably not a good idea to accept bags from neighbors or "friends" either.

I'm referring to a real-life case, Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for transporting heroin in the lining of a suitcase that she says had been given to her by a neighbor, someone she knew and trusted. The one thing we can do, is moving forward, and to make sure that something like this will not happen again.