Del Rosario sets up scholarship fund for Veloso’s children

MANILA, Philippines - Outgoing Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has used his personal money for the scholarship of the two children of overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso, who was convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia.

Del Rosario said when he visited Veloso in prison last year, she asked for a scholarship fund for her two children.

“I spent the whole morning with her in prison. I had lunch with her spiritual adviser, a Jesuit. I want to get a fuller sense of Mary Jane’s life. That evening I had a meeting with attorneys we had appointed to provide her legal guidance. While we were meeting with her, she asked for a scholarship fund for her two children,” Del Rosario said at the annual get-together with the media on Wednesday.

Del Rosario explained the scholarship fund for Veloso’s children could not be sourced from government funds.

“I committed funds and that fund is now operational,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines can again ask the Indonesian government to grant Veloso clemency if it can be proven she was a victim.

Veloso left the Philippines to work in Kuala Lumpur. She said she was asked by a friend to bring suitcases to Indonesia but she was not aware that the suitcases contained illegal drugs.

She was arrested at the Yogyakarta Airport on April 25, 2010 for possession of 2.6 kilograms of heroin.

In April 2015, Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve and was spared from execution. Indonesia, however, executed eight of her fellow convicts on schedule.

The two recruiters of Veloso, Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, are facing charges for allegedly sending 2.6 kilograms of heroin in Veloso’s suitcase.

Sergio and Lacanilao refused to enter a plea on the qualified human trafficking case filed against them at the Baloc Regional Trial Court Branch 37 in Nueva Ecija.

During their arraignment on Friday, Sergio and Lacanilao did not enter a plea, prompting the trial court to enter a mandatory not guilty plea as required by the rules. They were arraigned after Baloc RTC Branch 37 Judge Nelson Tribiana dismissed with finality their motions to defer their arraignment last month. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Manny Galvez