MANILA, Philippines—Mary Jane Veloso walked free Sept. 25, ending a 16-year legal battle that spanned foreign death row, protracted diplomatic negotiations and her detention in Philippine custody.
Speaking to reporters in Guiuan, Eastern Samar on Sept. 25, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed he signed the executive clemency document on Sept. 24.
“I already signed her pardon yesterday (Sept. 24),” Marcos said, confirming earlier indications from Malacañang Palace that the executive branch was evaluating her case for full clemency on humanitarian grounds.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), expressed deep gratitude and issued a statement celebrating the decision,
“Finally, humanity wins,” Veloso’s legal counsel Edre Olalia and NUPL chairperson said in a Sept. 26 statement. “This well-deserved freedom of Mary Jane is a welcome respite for the people and a victory for justice in many ways.”
Olalia said the long-awaited humanitarian gesture stands out and is certainly appreciated.
“Yet the bigger picture and long view of the plight of overseas workers and many other people’s issues must be at front and center and should not be lost on us. We must be grateful and count our blessings that come any way though. Good things happen to good people. Mary Jane is finally free,” Olalia added.
The NUPL said Mary Jane’s story is one of extraordinary courage and resilience.
“A migrant worker and trafficking victim who came perilously close to execution, she never lost hope. She became a powerful symbol of the struggles endured by countless Filipinos driven abroad by necessity and made vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation,” the NUPL said in a statement on Sept. 25.
The group said her release underscored critical lessons for human rights and migrant worker protections. “Her freedom is cause for celebration. It is also a reminder of why trafficking victims must be met first with protection, compassion and justice, and why no victim should have to spend years fighting simply to be recognized as one.”
Makabayan President Liza Maza also welcomed with joy the absolute pardon to Mary Jane Veloso and her release.
“Mary Jane is finally free and can rebuild the life taken unjustly from her. Trafficked persons are victims and should not be penalized for acts committed on orders of traffickers. They should instead be provided with protection,” Maza said in a statement Sept. 25.
Maza added that Mary Jane’s freedom must be more than the closing chapter of a painful case and it must strengthen the struggle for justice and genuine protection for all Filipino migrant workers.
“Let her release remind us that the fight does not end with one pardon. We must continue fighting for a Philippines where no Filipino woman or man is forced to risk exploitation, trafficking or even death simply to earn a living.”
Veloso was arrested April 25, 2010, at Adisutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after authorities found 2.6 kg of heroin concealed in her suitcase lining. She maintained her innocence, saying illegal recruiter had deceived her into unknowingly serving as a drug courier.
An Indonesian district court sentence her to death on Oct. 11, 2010. An appeals court affirmed the ruling in February 2011, and the Indonesian Supreme Court upheld it May 31, 2011. Then-Indonesian President Widodo rejected all clemency requests for death row inmates in October 2014.
By April 2015, Veloso was transferred to an island prison ahead of a scheduled execution by firing squad. Her execution was stayed April 29, 2015, hours before it was set, following diplomatic intervention by then-President Benigno Aquino III and the arrest of her recruiters in the Philippines. A regional trial court in Nueva Ecija convicted the recruiters of large-scale illegal recruitment in 2020.
After years of diplomatic appeals, Marcos Jr. announced Nov. 20, 2024, that Manila and Jakarta had agreed to transfer Veloso to the Philippines. She was repatriated Dec.18, 2024, and detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City under Philippine custody.
The absolute pardon restores Veloso’s civil and political rights, removing legal barriers to her immediate release and reunion with her family. (davaotoday.com)
