Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 carrying a suitcase lined with 2.6 kilograms of heroin and was later sentenced to death.

The mother of two was moments away from facing the firing squad in 2015 when she was granted a temporary reprieve after a woman suspected of recruiting her was arrested in the Philippines.

On Sunday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo made a request for "executive clemency" for Veloso during a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno LP Marsudi in Jakarta, on the sidelines of a state visit by Marcos.

"Foreign Minister [Retno] said she would consult the Law and Human Rights Ministry on the matter," Marcos' press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a video posted on Twitter, citing the Foreign Ministry.

Indonesia has some of the world's toughest anti-narcotics laws.

Veloso's case attracted huge attention in the Philippines and Indonesia, with rallies of support and boxing-great Manny Pacquiao pleading for her life to be spared.

Her supporters claim she went to Indonesia for a job as a maid and was duped by an international drug syndicate into carrying heroin.

Cruz-Angeles said the Philippine Embassy's assistance to Veloso has been "continuous" and that she was in "good condition" at the Wonosari Women's Penitentiary in Yogyakarta.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stayed Veloso's execution in 2015 after then-president of the Philippines Benigno Aquino asked that she be made a witness against a human trafficking ring that duped her into smuggling drugs.

Aquino had sought clemency for Veloso a number of times, as early as 2011, his spokeswoman said in 2015.

But in a meeting with Aquino's successor Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, Jokowi said the firebrand authoritarian gave him the go-ahead to execute the Filipina.

The Philippines denied the claim, saying Duterte had simply pledged to respect whatever the outcome of Indonesia's judicial process.

In Jakarta on Tuesday, some activist groups assembled to push for Veloso’s release, saying that Veloso, who used to work as a housemaid in the Philippines, was a victim who was being used by a drug cartel.

The advent of a new Philippine president, who was in Indonesia until Tuesday morning, was hoped by activists to start a new chapter in the death sentence case -- one that would end in Veloso returning to her hometown Nueva Ecija alive.

“May the visit [of Marcos Jr.] bring hope to Veloso’s case, because she is a trafficking victim,” Afif Abdul Qoyim of Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat) told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. “And victims, by right, cannot be punished by the law. Not only has she been punished, but she has also been granted death.”

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Edward OS Hiariej told reporters in February that Indonesia was still waiting for a case-review petition against her death sentence to be submitted by Veloso’s legal team.

Both of Veloso’s recruiters were found guilty for illegal recruitment and sentenced to life in prison by a Philippine court in 2020, in a case filed by three other victims -- Veloso’s neighbors in the Philippines. Veloso has her own human-trafficking case against the two recruiters pending before the same court, but the trial had been on hold because Veloso had yet to testify.

Yuniasri, a former staffer of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) who attended the Tuesday gathering of activists, said that a mismatch in the Indonesian and Philippine court systems has played a substantial role in the lack of progress in Veloso’s fate in Indonesia.

“To submit a case-review application, one would have to present new findings. We hoped that the illegal recruitment verdict could be used as new evidence,” she said. “But there are doubts if that would suffice, or if another verdict -- that of human trafficking -- would be necessary.”