Marcos Grants Mary Jane Veloso Absolute Pardon

Almost two years after returning to the Philippines from Indonesia to serve the remainder of her sentence for drug trafficking, former overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso has been granted absolute pardon by President Marcos.

“I signed her pardon [on Thursday, Sept. 24],” Marcos said when asked about the matter during a chance interview after inspecting the Felipe Abrigo Memorial Hospital in Guiuan, Eastern Samar on Friday, Sept. 25.

Veloso was released from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) past midnight on Saturday, Sept. 26, hours after the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) received a copy of the pardon.

In a press conference, Veloso maintained her innocence and insisted she had nothing to do with the 2010 drug trafficking charges against her in Indonesia.

"Wala naman po talaga akong ginawang kasalanan. Ito ang Mary Jane na totoo, na takot sa mga iligal na gawain. Si Mary Jane na mapagmahal na ina. Si Mary Jane na anak sa magulang," she said.

She officially exited CIW at 12:30 a.m. on and was greeted by her parents, who had traveled from Nueva Ecija upon learning of her release.

Early this year, Veloso made a new appeal for her freedom in an open letter written from prison.

Arrest, appeal and return to Phl

Veloso was arrested at Yogyakarta Airport on April 25, 2010 after authorities discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. She was convicted in October of that year.

After the Supreme Court of Indonesia rejected her appeal, Veloso was placed on death row in 2015 and was about to be executed by firing squad with eight other convicts.

But an eleventh-hour appeal from then president Benigno Aquino III prompted then-Indonesian president Joko Widodo to call off the execution. Illegal recruiter Maria Cristina Sergio surrendered to Philippine authorities.

Sergio was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2020, along with her live-in partner, Julius Lacanilao, for large-scale illegal recruitment.

On Dec. 6, 2024, the Philippines and Indonesia signed an agreement on the transfer of Veloso back to the Philippines, where she will serve the remainder of her sentence.

BuCor awaits Veloso’s papers

Earlier on Friday, the BuCor said it will await the papers for Veloso’s absolute pardon before releasing her from the CIW in Mandaluyong.

BuCor said that the Office of the President must first transmit the documents confirming Veloso’s absolute pardon to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the bureau’s mother agency.

The DOJ will then send the papers to the BuCor, after which it will refer them to the CIW.

Veloso has been detained at the CIW since December 2024, following her repatriation from Indonesia.

“There is a process in terms of documentation from the Office of the President to the DOJ to the BuCor,” the bureau’s media consultant Weng Ocfemia said.

“What I can only say is that as long as the documentation received by BuCor is complete, she will be released. Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. does not want persons deprived of liberty to stay longer if a release order has already been issued,” she added.

The government placed Veloso at the CIW to serve the remainder of her sentence.

The BuCor placed Veloso in a different facility within CIW because Sergio, her illegal recruiter, was incarcerated there. The agency had earlier considered transferring the illegal recruiter to one of its provincial facilities.

Migrant workers’ groups, women’s organizations and human rights lawyers welcomed Marcos’ grant of absolute pardon to Veloso, calling it a victory for the yearslong campaign for her freedom while urging stronger protection for Filipino migrant workers.

Gabriela Women’s Party, Migrante International, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers and Akbayan also called for the prosecution of human traffickers and illegal recruiters and measures addressing the conditions that force Filipinos to seek work abroad. – With additional reports from EJ Macababbad and Mark Ernest Villeza