Pacquiao Meets Indonesian House Speakers, Filipina Death Row Prisoner
Jakarta. Philippine boxing legend Manny Pacquiao was scheduled to meet with speakers from the House of Representatives on Friday afternoon as part of his efforts to reach out to President Joko Widodo on behalf of a Filipina currently on death row in Indonesia.
House Speaker Setya Novanto said on Friday that Pacquiao would like to thank the Indonesian government for postponing the execution of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, who is currently being held in a prison in Yogyakarta for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroine in 2010.
Setya added that Pacquiao, who is also a legislator in the Philippines, was merely seeking the House's help to reach the Indonesian president and has no intention of intervening with execution procedures.
"He still respects the legal process in Indonesia; that's the information we received from the [Philippine] embassy," Setya said in Jakarta as quoted by news portal CNNIndonesia.com.
Pacquiao had promised to visit Veloso before his "fight of the century" with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May.
Pacquiao arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday and together with the Philippine ambassador to Indonesia, Maria Lumen Banzon Isleta, met with Veloso for half an hour at Wirogunan Penitentiary.
"Mary cried a little bit when Manny paid a visit," Agus Salim, Veloso's lawyer, said on Friday.
He added that the two talked, prayed and exchanged gifts during the brief visit on Friday morning before Pacquiao left for Jakarta to meet the lawmakers.
Veloso was initially among a group of nine drug traffickers scheduled for execution by firing squad in April, but Joko granted her a last-minute reprieve after Philippine authorities requested she be able to testify against the woman who allegedly duped the former domestic worker into transporting drugs.
Tags: Keywords: