Mary Jane Veloso Freed After Presidential Pardon, OFW's Long Wait Ends

Former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso has been freed from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong hours after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced that he had signed her absolute pardon. According to Chino Gaston’s report on “Saksi,” the Bureau of Corrections received at 5 p.m. from the Department of Justice the order for Veloso’s release. It was processed immediately. A beaming Veloso faced the media with BuCor chief Gregorio Catapang Jr., during which she thanked Marcos. “Ito na po ‘yung araw na pinakahihintay ko,” Veloso said, crying. (This is the day that I have been waiting for the most.) Veloso spent almost two years in prison after the Indonesian government agreed that she be returned to the Philippines. Among those who met Veloso were her lawyers from Migrante and the National Union of People’s Lawyers, who helped her with her case after she was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 on charges of drug trafficking. Heroin was found in a suitcase that someone asked her to bring. She was scheduled for execution in 2015, but President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III interceded for her with the Indonesian government. Indonesia transferred custody of Veloso to the Philippines in 2024. –NB, GMA News