MARY JANE VELOSO'S FAMILY IS ON THE VERGE OF LOSING SYMPATHY FROM FILIPINOS

Mrs. Celia Veloso

We all had a sigh of relief when Mary Jane Veloso was not called to face the gruesome Indonesian firing squad a few nights ago. Her plight in a foreign land and her pending execution for alleged drug trafficking moved us, and captured our sympathetic hearts. 
 

But not for long…..

Mary Jane is the principal character in this real life drama. But someone is set to steal the limelight away from her – Mrs. Celia Veloso, her own mother no less.

After all the hullabaloo, Celia Veloso unleashed a tirade against the Aquino government, which left me stunned and puzzled at the same time, for I never expected such grandstanding attitude from her. And to make matters worse, her unbecoming behavior has rubbed off on the other members of their family.

The Veloso family now has metamorphosed into a bunch of boastful tigers, from being a cluster of scared cats during the days leading to Mary Jane’s execution.

They are giving the credit to the taumbayan for the reversal of misfortune of their daughter. Yes, we all prayed for Mary Jane and wished that she will be spared from death knowing the fishy circumstance behind her arrest for drug trafficking. But supposing the government did not intervene, will our prayers still be answered?

Obviously, the Veloso family is downplaying the role of our President and the efforts made by the government in the deferment of Mary Jane’s execution. For what reason, I don’t have any inkling whatsoever.

The government may have had mishaps in the handling of Mary Jane’s case, but it was able to deliver the goods nonetheless – the deferment of her execution and the reopening of her case for further investigation.

We cannot afford to belittle the efforts of our President. First, he personally appealed the matter to President Joko Widodo of Indonesia during the ASEAN summit held recently in Kuala Lumpur. Secondly, PNOY broke protocol by descending political hierarchy in order to speak to Indonesia’s foreign affairs minister.

Ideally, PNOY should have spoken only to his counterpart – President Widodo. But since he wanted the appeal to be expedited, he talked directly to the foreign affairs minister which was considered a breach of protocol.

And thirdly, PNOY suggested that Mary Jane be turned into a state witness instead against the drug syndicate that victimized her, and such proposal was duly heard by the Indonesian government.

I am not saying that the Veloso family should thank PNOY to the heavens for what he has done. But at least, they should have shown some courtesy and decency by giving the President some due credit for the extraordinary measures he has done.

As I have mentioned, the government may have committed slip-ups in its efforts to save Mary Jane which may not have appeared palatable to her family. But ultimately, what is far more important is that PNOY’s government was able to bring forth the expected deliverables.

After appearing to be defiant and ungrateful, Celia Veloso and her family are on the verge of losing the sympathetic support of their fellow Filipinos. Her mouthful of harsh words against the Aquino government definitely left a bad taste in the mouth of many Filipinos, so to speak.

But this whole thing is about Mary Jane, the principal character. So let us just continue to pray for her, that at the end of the day, she will be accorded the justice she rightfully deserves.