Mary Jane Veloso (center) (Santi San Juan/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Touched by the case of Mary Jane Veloso, House Minority Leader 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan is batting for a new International Prisoner Transfer Program that would allow Filipinos convicted of offenses abroad to serve their prison terms in the Philippines.

In a statement Sunday, Jan. 5, Libanan called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),  Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to work out the details of the such program.

“We need a program that will facilitate the transfer of Filipinos convicted of crimes and incarcerated in other countries, so that they can serve the remainder of their sentences here at home, closer to their families,” Libanan said. 

“There’s no question that bringing Filipino offenders closer to their loved ones will be more conducive to their rehabilitation,” added the veteran lawmaker. 

He said the prison transfer program could be modeled after a similar initiative in the United States (US).

A lawyer by profession, Libanan previously served as chairperson of the House committee on justice when he represented Eastern Samar’s lone district in Congress. He is now 4Ps party-list representative.

“In the United States, their international prisoner transfer program is administered by their Department of Justice’s International Prisoner Transfer Unit, while their Department of State, which is equivalent to our DFA, is the chief negotiator of all prisoner transfer treaties,” he noted.

Last month, Jakarta repatriated death row survivor Mary Jane Veloso to Manila after she spent nearly 15 years in an Indonesian prison for drug trafficking.

A domestic helper and mother of two, Veloso was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 after she was found with 2.6 kg of heroin concealed in a suitcase. She received a temporary reprieve from execution in 2015.

Veloso, 39, from Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, is currently confined at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.

According to a previous report by the DMW,  a total of 1,254 Filipinos have been convicted of various offenses abroad and are currently locked up in countries across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.