Metro Manila, Philippines - Convicted overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso will spend Christmas in detention - this time in the country - and her wish: a presidential pardon.
It was an emotional reunion with her family on Wednesday, Dec. 18, when she emerged from the women’s prison where she would serve her life term after she was spared from death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
“Sana mabigyan ako ng clemency,” she said. “Fifteen years na ako nakakulong sa Indonesia sa kaso na hindi ko naman ginawa.”
[Translation: I hope I will be given clemency. I was detained in Indonesia for 15 years for a crime that I did not even commit.]
The government has been mum on the possible grant of presidential clemency to Veloso, and focused instead on efforts to bring her back to the country.
“Her status is that she will be serving her sentence here, and that sentence is life imprisonment,” Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said in a press briefing at the Correctional Institute for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, where Veloso would be detained.
“Would she be entitled to amnesty or any other executive clemency? Yes. As to when, it’s up to the president,” he said.
Vasquez also said the Justice Department will study whether or not Veloso will be qualified for the good conduct time allowance law, a privilege that entitles inmates to a reduced jail term for good behavior.
Veloso will undergo a five-day quarantine and a 55-day orientation, diagnostic evaluation, and security classification at the CIW Reception and Diagnostic Center.
After that, she will be transferred to the maximum security compound.
Veloso arrived in the country at 5:51 a.m. Her family was not allowed to welcome her over health and security concerns. Authorities immediately brought her to the women’s prison.
“Napakasaya ko. Nakauwi na ‘ko dito sa bansa natin,” Veloso told reporters as she was undergoing procedures.
[Translation: I’m so happy. I’m already back here in our country.]
Her sons, parents, and other relatives trooped to the prison facility.
The family of Mary Jane Veloso brings her flowers as they reunite on Dec. 18.
Veloso’s now-teenage sons Daniel and Darren, 22 and 16, ran to their mother in an emotional reunion.
The sons of Mary Jane Veloso hug and kiss their mother after she returned to the Philippines.
Veloso’s mother, Celia, said she felt relief.
“Mahalaga, nandito na siya. Malayo na siya sa kamatayan ‘di gaya du’n sa Indonesia, syempre kinakabahan kami dahil kung maisipan nilang, ‘Sige, bitayin na ‘yan,’ magagawa nila,” she said.
[Translation: What’s important is that she's already here. She is far from death unlike in Indonesia, we’re worried because if they thought of killing her, they could.]
In 2010, Veloso was arrested in Indonesia after illegal drugs were discovered in her suitcase that was handed to her by her recruiter. She was sentenced to death.
Her sentence was stayed in 2015 when Manila informed Indonesia that Veloso’s recruiters surrendered. A local court eventually convicted them of illegal recruitment.