Mary Jane reunited with family as free woman

MANILA, Philippines — Mary Jane Veloso was writing a poem in Filipino for a performance next Tuesday when cheers erupted inside the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), as her fellow inmates celebrated the news that she had been granted an absolute pardon by President Marcos.

“Nanay, fetch me here. I want to go home already,” Veloso told her mother over the phone at 5 p.m. on Friday.

At 9 p.m., her parents, Celia and Cesar Veloso, and their relatives left their home in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, aboard a coaster to see Mary Jane again, this time as a free woman.

By 12:05 a.m. Saturday, the coaster carrying her family reached Correctional Road, where the CIW is located.

Upon seeing her parents, Mary Jane hugged them tightly for several minutes as tears flowed among them.

At 12:25 a.m., Veloso emerged from the CIW aboard the coaster but had to sign documents formally acknowledging her release.

She was already feeling nauseated because, in her words, “she hasn’t ridden a vehicle in years.”

“I’m very, very happy,” Mary Jane told reporters. “God bless. Thank you to all who monitored me.”

She then sat between Celia and Cesar, touched her mother’s face, put her arm around her shoulder and repeatedly kissed her.

By 12:30 a.m., the coaster departed for a hotel in Manila. After 16 years, Mary Jane was no longer in prison.

Her release ended a long legal ordeal that began with her arrest at Yogyakarta Airport in Indonesia on April 25, 2010.

Victimized by illegal recruiters, Veloso was arrested after authorities discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. She was convicted later that year and eventually placed on death row.

After losing an appeal before the Supreme Court of Indonesia, Veloso was set to be executed by firing squad along with eight other prisoners on a secluded island in 2015.

The eight were executed that night, but Veloso’s life was spared less than 20 minutes before her scheduled execution following an 11th-hour appeal from former president Benigno Aquino III.

Veloso was transferred to the Philippines in 2024 after a landmark prisoner transfer agreement was made with the Indonesian government.

Reduced sentence

The agreement reduced her sentence from death to life imprisonment, and she had been held at the CIW since December 2024 following her repatriation from Indonesia.

After years of prayer vigils, petitions, protests and dialogues by Veloso’s team with different government institutions, she was finally reunited with her family.

On Friday, an emotional Veloso held a copy of the document confirming her absolute pardon as she sat beside Bureau of Corrections director general Gregorio Catapang Jr.

“I am very, very thankful to President Bongbong Marcos Jr. because I know this wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for him,” she told reporters during her first press conference after receiving the pardon.

“I know that God used the President as an instrument to clean my name because that’s the only thing I ever wanted. I just wanted to return to my family; I have nothing to ask for,” she said. “My mother and father are now old, and I just want to take care of them, as well as my children.”

Veloso emphasized that she would be more present this time to guide her children, whom she left when she was incarcerated in 2010.

“It’s difficult growing up without a mother to guide you, but I’m grateful that you became my mother. I’m so proud of you. I love you so much,” said Mark Danielle Candelaria, 23, Veloso’s eldest son.

Veloso was separated from Mark Danielle when he was seven and from Mark Darren when he was just over a year old.

For Mark Darren, who had never celebrated his birthday with his mother, her release is a “huge gift” as he turns 18 on Oct. 25.

“I’m very happy. I have always prayed for my mother to be free to celebrate birthdays with me. Finally, it will happen now,” Mark Darren said.

As Veloso begins her life outside prison, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said it will provide full reintegration assistance following Marcos’ grant of absolute pardon. — Rhodina Villanueva