Vice President Jejomar C. Binay said yesterday he believes it was prayers that made possible the last-minute reprieve granted by the Indonesian government to doomed overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso.
“This is the power of prayer at work,” Binay said in a statement early morning Wednesday, hours after it was reported that Veloso, who had been sentenced to death for drug smuggling, was spared from execution by firing squad. Veloso was spared even as the Indonesian government carried out the execution of eight other death row prisoners
The vice president who serves as President Aquino’s adviser on OFW concerns, however, urged Filipinos to pray even harder after Veloso’s temporary reprieve. “Huwag po natin itigil ang pagdarasal para kay Mary Jane (Let us not stop praying for Mary Jane),” Binay said. “Dagdagan pa po natin ang ating panalangin na maisalba natin siya sa kamatayan (Pray even harder that she will be spared from the death penalty).”
While in Indonesia for the Asian-African Summit in Bandung last week, Binay personally met with Vice President Jusuf Kalla to relay to the Indonesian government the Filipino people’s appeal to spare the life of Veloso.
Veloso, 30, and a mother of two, was sentenced to death by the Indonesian Supreme Court after she was arrested at the Yogyakarta airport in April, 2010. Police had found 2.6 kilos (5.73 pounds) of heroin in her luggage after a flight from Malaysia.
Binay also reiterated his call on OFWs to be doubly careful in accepting packages to be brought to other countries, even in instances where family members or friends themselves ask for the favor.
Manila Bulletin
