MANILA, Philippines — The conclusion of Mary Jane Veloso’s 16-year legal ordeal serves as a stark reminder that the Philippine government holds an ongoing responsibility to safeguard overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Executive Secretary Ralph Recto stated on Friday, September 26.
Reflecting on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to grant Veloso an absolute pardon, Recto pointed out that her eventual freedom was achieved only after more than ten years of continuous legal strategies, diplomatic engagements, and dedicated public advocacy across three presidential terms.
”The effort to bring her home and secure her freedom spanned three presidencies and more than a decade of patient diplomacy, painstaking legal work, and persistent advocacy,” Recto said.
Veloso’s long path through the justice system began in 2010 when she was arrested at an airport in Indonesia after law enforcement discovered 2.6 kilograms of heroin hidden inside her luggage. Though she consistently maintained her innocence—explaining that she had been tricked by human traffickers—she was sentenced to death.
A last-minute stay of execution was granted in April 2015 following personal diplomatic interventions by then-President Benigno Aquino III, alongside the surrender of her alleged recruiters to authorities in the Philippines.
By November 2024, the Marcos administration negotiated her sentence reduction from capital punishment to life imprisonment, subsequently arranging her transfer to a domestic prison facility under the agreement that the Philippine government would honor her sentence within its own legal framework.
While acknowledging that no action can undo the decades-long separation Veloso endured, Recto expressed hope for her future and reiterated that the state’s obligation extends to all vulnerable Filipinos abroad.
”We cannot give Mary Jane back the sixteen years she spent away from her family. But today, perhaps, we can give her back the future,” he said.
”Our work goes on—to help those who, like Mary Jane, are deceived, trafficked, or trapped far from home,” Recto added.
“For if her long ordeal has taught us anything, it is that our duty to protect our OFWs endures across administrations,” he stressed. “It is a duty that belongs not to any one government, but to the Republic itself.”