MANILA (September 29) — After nearly 15 years in detention, Mary Jane Veloso is finally home with her family, with Catholic bishops saying her ordeal should strengthen efforts to protect vulnerable Filipino migrant workers from trafficking and exploitation.
Bishop Socrates Mesiona, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, welcomed the absolute pardon granted to Veloso by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“We are happy that Mary Jane Veloso has been granted an absolute pardon. We know that she and her family have gone through a lot,” Mesiona said Sept. 27 on the sidelines of the 40th National Migrants’ Sunday in Quezon City.
Marcos signed the absolute pardon on Sept. 24, ending Veloso’s imprisonment stemming from her 2010 conviction in Indonesia for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin through an Indonesian airport.
Veloso, now 41 and a mother of two, has consistently maintained that she was deceived by recruiters into carrying the drugs.
Her case drew international attention in 2015 when she received a last-minute reprieve from execution after the Philippine government asked Indonesian authorities to allow her to testify against her alleged traffickers.
Veloso returned to the Philippines in December 2024 after Manila and Jakarta reached an agreement allowing her to serve the remainder of her sentence in the Philippines.
A day after receiving the pardon, she attended a Thanksgiving Mass with her family at St. Catherine of Siena Chapel in Quezon City.
Mesiona also thanked the individuals and groups that worked for Veloso’s freedom and eventual return home.
“We are grateful to those who took steps to help and free someone like Mary Jane Veloso,” he said.
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, president of Caritas Philippines, likewise welcomed Veloso’s homecoming but pointed to the wider lesson from her case: Filipino migrant workers need stronger protection against trafficking and exploitation.
“Mary Jane Veloso is home at last. What a long and painful journey it has been,” Alminaza said.
“May this homecoming bring healing and renewed hope to her and her family. And may no one ever have to endure what she has gone through,” he said.
For migrant advocates and church workers, Veloso’s return closes one painful chapter but leaves a continuing responsibility for government agencies and communities: to make sure vulnerable Filipinos seeking work abroad are not placed in situations where deception, trafficking or exploitation can determine their fate.
