When Mary Jane Veloso, who was scheduled to be executed by the Indonesian authorities, got a reprieve or a temporary stay of her execution, all the Filipinos who held vigil and prayed for days and nights that she may be saved were in jubilant rejoicing. The eyes of the Veloso family members as well as those of the close friends and relations of the family, flooded with bitter tears all throughout those terrifying moments, soon sparkled and their faces shone radiant with smiles.
Yes, Mary Jane was spared from her death by firing squad.
President Noynoy Aquino was obviously expecting the Veloso family to reward him with grateful praises. He must be thinking very highly of his feat in having saved Mary Jane from the gallows, after five years of his government’s neglect of the young Filipina’s case that led to the death row in the Indonesian prisons, and ultimately the eventual hour of the execution. He must have gloated in the thought that “Oh, that’s one fine stroke I made! The Veloso family now owes me a debt of gratitude! I saved Mary Jane’s life—that’s utang na loob in any language!”
And this emboldened the DFA spokesperson Charles Jose to promptly issue a self-serving credit-grabbing statement to the effect that all those mass actions and vigils and prayers conducted in the Philippines and abroad could not be credited for the reprieve on Mary Jane’s execution, that it was only President Noynoy’s acts that swayed the Indon President to spare the Filipina’s life at the last hour.
Clearly, this was meant to discredit the MIGRANTE and all the other groups, sectors and individuals who held hours and hours without let-up for days and nights until the very last minute of the scheduled hour. It was meant to heap all the credits and gratitude for President Noynoy and his government in total disregard of all the other actions of the thousands of the Filipinos and non-Filipinos who rallied in front of Indonesian embassies and consulates here and abroad, braved the sweltering heat of the sun, endured the mists and cold of nights on parks, plazas and streets. And lighted candles and prayed and sang and shed tears for someone whom they did not even personally know and see and have never met. Just the thought—a pure malasakit for someone as unknown a Filipino as Mary Jane whose plight is only a microcosm of the thousands whose lives have been fated to be consigned to like situation.
The question: Why? Why the quick credit-grabbing statement of the DFA? What and How does this fare with President Noynoy himself and his beloved administration?
Well, we must recall that President Noynoy’s image was badly tarnished because of his “kapalpakan” (bunglings) in the Mamasapano Incident. His trolls and magic musicians could not repair his ugly image with whatever lies and pretensions and deceptions until the emergence of the Mary Jane issue. And so dreading that this issue could become another lightning bolt utterly devastating to Pinoy’s presidency heretofore lambasted by most every sector of the populace as inept and inutile, the government crafted a well-calculated move. It exploited the explosive situation of Mary Jane’s plight as a last straw to salvage Pinoy and his regime.
But, as borne out by the timeline and facts of the case, the DFA had been remiss of its function and duty to assist Mary Jane from the beginning. The internationally renown celebrity Ms Monique Wilson who was with the Veloso family in Indonesia on the days close to the scheduled execution hour has a first hand account, a telling information and knowledge of how Pinoy’s DFA personnel in Indonesia had treated the Velosos. They were given a run-around, humiliated and insulted with all those patronizing and condescending words and behaviors.
Of course, we are familiar with how highhanded educated Filipinos, especially those in well-entrenched government offices, treat the uneducated and the poor citizens among us. Of course, we are familiar with stories of how OFWs are taken for granted by Philippine Embassy and Consular offices in other lands—ignored and left to their own devices, and if at all attended to, it is made with mere token solicitude and condescending attitude. Most especially, if you are just a “DH” or a poor working hand.
And, the bitterness nurtured by Mary Jane’s family—mother Celia and her siblings—could not just be assuaged by the hypocritical calculated gestures of President Noynoy vis-à-vis the Indon President. Mother Celia and her sisters were bitterly critical and angry at the Pinoy government even before he feigned action in Mary Jane’s behalf. And with reason that they would be bitter and angry at his credit-grabbing stance!
Certainly, no one in her dignified and self-respecting personhood would fail to discern the hypocrisy and the cajolery on the part of Noynoy, acting with a semblance of concern and pretended briskness to Mary Jane’s aid! When for many years that the case was on the “stove”, Pinoy’s and his embassy officials’ extraordinary conduct and attitude were as “token assistance” if not outright inaction! Not until the boiling point was about to let the steam of scandal out and scald Pinoy on his face! And heaven knows how he could have been saved from his post! But his excellent deceitful tacks gave him his much much needed leeway.
Indeed, Pinoy needed very badly the Mary Jane issue to extricate himself and his government from the badly tarnished image of failed governance. Yes, it was his desperate act of pretense. And his propaganda machines—the mainstream media and the social media — were quick to orchestrate their moves of demonizing mother Celia Veloso and her family so much as to malign their very character and souls.
What about the labor export policy? What shall be the blessings of the labor export policy? Ah, it will continue to be the financial props of the government. The OFWs’ remittances will continue to be the fountain of funds for the Philippine national treasury. Or perhaps, the President’s social fund? or his DAP?
But what about the fate of this nation as the origin of millions of OFWs? Will the deceptive act of Noynoy in saving Mary Jane’s life be the glorious golden boat to bring home the OFWs and consign the reality of Filipino diaspora to total extinction? Will the labor export policy be a thing of the past?
No. The Philippines shall become the prime nation of modern slavery — home to foreign slave traders and human traffickers — a land that serves as oases to foreign investors where aliens are the privileged ones and the country’s own native constituents are the deprived and underprivileged — a country that is host to foreign tourists who enjoy the prized treasures and everything precious on our lands — a nation that is the chief exporter not of products but of human resources-the toiling masses of our people.
