A Filipina spared from execution on drug trafficking charges in Indonesia in 2015 will be returned to the Philippines after years of negotiations between the two Southeast Asian neighbors, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a social media statement on Wednesday, November 20.
Mary Jane Veloso, a domestic helper and mother of two, was arrested in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, for carrying 2.6 kg (5.73 pounds) of heroin hidden in her suitcase in 2010.
Veloso was spared from the firing squad at the last minute in 2015 after Philippine officials asked then Indonesian President Joko Widodo to allow her to testify against members of a human and drug-smuggling ring.
"After over a decade of diplomacy and consultations with the Indonesian government, we managed to delay her execution long enough to reach an agreement to finally bring her back to the Philippines," Marcos said in a statement.
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