Mary Jane is finally free
Sixteen years after her imprisonment and suspended execution in Indonesia, and two years after her transfer to a Philippine jail, drug trafficking convict Mary Jane Veloso received absolute pardon from President Marcos and regained her freedom Friday night.
Veloso’s family and supporters had been pushing for her release since her repatriation in 2024 to serve a reduced sentence of life imprisonment at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City.
Presented to the press by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) following her release, Veloso was in tears as she showed the pardon document signed by Mr. Marcos.
“I just want to tell our beloved President: Thank you so much for clearing my name and allowing me to return to my family. It was really hard being separated from them … I didn’t see my children grow, but I believe it’s not yet too late for me to be their guide,” she said in Filipino.
Earlier in the day, it became clear that her wait was finally over—straight from President Marcos himself.
“I’ll give you a scoop: I signed her pardon yesterday,” Mr. Marcos told reporters during a visit to the northern town of Batac, Ilocos Norte, without elaborating.
‘Hope prevailed’
The previous day, Palace press officer Claire Castro dropped a hint, saying the President was “seriously considering” granting absolute pardon to Veloso, 41. Mr. Marcos, she said, no longer had to inform Indonesia about it since Veloso was already in Philippine custody.
In Cabanatuan City, Veloso’s family members were simply overwhelmed by the news, which was delivered by her lawyer Edre Olalia. Jane’s mother Celia said she “couldn’t believe Attorney Edre’s call.”
“Thank you very much to all who joined us and supported us so Mary Jane can have the opportunity she had been waiting for—to start anew and be with her family,” Celia said in a Facebook post.
“They were so happy,” she also said of Mary Jane’s two sons, Mark Daniel and Mark Darren. “We will finally be with mama; that’s what they told me.”
“Hope prevailed after a long struggle. A bright hope and a new beginning,” Celia said.
Hours after the President’s brief announcement, BuCor said Veloso would be freed within a day upon its receipt of her release papers. BuCor later said she could be out by 8 p.m. on Friday.
Veloso, who traveled to Indonesia in April 2010 to work as a domestic helper, was arrested at the airport in Yogyakarta after being found carrying more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin.
She denied knowledge of the contraband, saying the luggage containing the drug was just handed to her by her Filipino recruiters, Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.
A Yogyakarta court on Oct. 11 that year found her guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced her to death. The Philippine Embassy appealed her case in February 2011, but Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld her conviction in May.
‘Reexamine’ case
Then President Benigno Aquino III requested clemency for Veloso in August that year, and persisted even after then Indonesian President Joko Widodo turned it down in December 2014.
On April 28, 2015, Veloso’s recruiters surrendered to Nueva Ecija police, which led to the National Bureau of Investigation filing cases against them for illegal recruitment, human trafficking and estafa.
Veloso was scheduled for execution the next day but was granted a last-minute stay around 1 a.m.
Aquino’s successor, then President Rodrigo Duterte made no public effort to intercede in Veloso’s case. During his state visit to Indonesia in 2016, Duterte told Widodo to “Follow your own laws. I will not interfere.”
In January 2020, a Nueva Ecija court sentenced Sergio and Lacanilao to life imprisonment, finding them guilty of illegal recruitment. It was for a case involving three other victims.
In September 2022, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sought executive clemency for Veloso. In May the following year, during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Indonesia, Mr. Marcos appealed to Widodo to “reexamine” her case.
On Nov. 19, 2024, the DFA confirmed that officials from both countries had discussed Veloso’s transfer to a Philippine prison.
Mr. Marcos announced the next day that Veloso will be repatriated.
Veloso was flown back to the Philippines on Dec. 18, 2024 now a CIW inmate.
Appeals to Palace, SC
Her family’s last reported appeal addressed to President Marcos was on Jan. 10, 2025, Veloso’s 40th birthday, when they sent to the Palace a petition with 8,283 signatures. Another petition was sent on July 4, this time with 13,537 signatures.
On Nov. 14, Olalia’s group, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, questioned the legality of Veloso’s continued imprisonment by filing a petition for the writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court.
On May 8 this year, Veloso herself appealed for her release in a handwritten letter to Chief Alexander Gesmundo. —WITH REPORTS FROM AFP AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
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