More than a decade after being saved from a firing squad in Indonesia, former overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso remains in prison, this time in her own country. 

The mother of two has been held at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City since Dec. 18, and her plea for executive clemency from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. remains unheeded. 

Veloso’s family and her legal counsel including Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) are wondering why she remains imprisoned. “What are you waiting for, Mr. President?” they ask.

Her father, Cesar Veloso, directed a plea at Mr. Marcos in a press conference in Manila on July 4. “Please grant her clemency so she can finally be reunited with us, her siblings, and her children,” he said in Filipino. “Please have mercy.”

Veloso, who was once on death row in an Indonesian jail for drug trafficking, returned home to her country last year after 15 years of serving her sentence. She was arrested at the Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta in April 2010 after she was found carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase. She denied knowledge of the contraband and said it was handed to her by Maria Kristina Sergio, her recruiter and neighbor in Talavera, Nueva Ecija. 

In November last year, Mr. Marcos announced that Indonesia had agreed to transfer Veloso to the Philippines. The agreement resulted from years of negotiations between Manila and Jakarta that began during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. 

Asked if Veloso would be granted executive clemency, Mr. Marcos said “everything is on the table.” In December, the Department of Justice said the Indonesian government had set no conditions on Veloso’s transfer.

‘The ball is with us’

Olalia told CoverStory that based on the agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia, “once Mary Jane is transferred to Philippine custody, the question of condonation, remission, or even clemency is now the responsibility of the Philippine government.”

“So, the ball is now with us. It is with the President because absolute pardon is the constitutional power and prerogative of the President,” the lawyer said. “[Why is] a Filipino citizen, who was convicted in another country of the alleged crime she committed, which she is contesting, is still serving her sentence in her own country, when she has not committed any crime in our own country?”  

According to Olalia, Indonesia has “already given [the Philippine government] the power and the responsibility to decide whether to grant clemency” to Veloso.

“If there’s no legal impediment or objection from Indonesia, what are you waiting for, Mr. President? There is no legal impediment,” he said. 

In a message sent to CoverStory on July 13, Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Malacañang Press Officer Claire Castro said executive clemency for Veloso “is still under evaluation” by Mr. Marcos. 

At a press briefing on July 4, Castro said of the issue: “If we are not violating any laws and this will benefit our fellow citizens, we will most likely receive a positive response on this.” 

Pending complaint

Veloso has a pending complaint of qualified human trafficking, estafa and illegal recruitment against her recruiters Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao at the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 89. 

Olalia said he and the rest of the legal team were awaiting advice from the Office of the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court on how and where Veloso’s testimony will be taken. He said they had filed a motion at the Nueva Ecija RTC to inform the high court that they were seeking permission to hold the hearings at the CIW. 

Josalee Deinla, another lawyer for Veloso, said there are no pending charges against her client in the Philippines, and that Indonesian authorities had expressed they would defer to any decision of the Philippine government after Veloso’s repatriation, including the grant of clemency.

“We continue to urge the President to exercise his power of executive clemency in Mary Jane’s case. After more than a decade of wrongful imprisonment, this is the most immediate and compassionate path toward her freedom,” Deinla told CoverStory.  

Olalia added: “It’s taking way too long to decide on a simple matter of exercising one’s constitutional power, which not even the Supreme Court can question.”

Life sentence

In 2020, Sergio and Lacanilao were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nueva Ecija RTC Branch 88 for large-scale illegal recruitment that involved three other victims.

“Their conviction affirms that Mary Jane was deceived and trafficked,” Deinla said. “These judicial findings reinforce the argument that Mary Jane was never a willing drug courier but a trafficking victim—one who should never have faced capital punishment.”

Howard Areza of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), who serves as a lawyer for Veloso’s recruiters, told CoverStory that Lacanilao is detained at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa and that Sergio was transferred from the CIW to the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan early this year. 

Areza said the PAO also wants Sergio and Lacanilao to be “physically present” at the CIW during Veloso’s testimony, “so they can all face each other.”

“We are asking the Nueva Ecija court to order the return of Maria Kristina Sergio to the CIW so that we can speak with her more easily and so she can also be present during the trial,” he said, adding that they had been using video conferencing during previous hearings but that the internet connection often failed.  

As for Sergio and Lacanilao’s conviction of illegal recruitment in another case, Areza said they had appealed the decision but the Court of Appeals recently affirmed it. He said they had filed a motion for reconsideration and that they were determined to raise the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. 

The PAO chief, Persida Acosta, commented on the matter, saying in a Viber message: “PAO stand is that: They are not recruiters.”  

Asked about the condition of his clients, Areza said Lacanilao has health issues: “He is having a hard time walking, he is on crutches,” and has been hospitalized while in detention. He said Sergio wants to be returned to the CIW. 

Compassion and action

Meanwhile, Veloso “continues to bear her situation with quiet strength and faith, though the emotional toll of prolonged detention and separation from her children is deeply felt,” Deinla said, adding:

“Mary Jane continues to appeal to President Marcos for compassion and decisive action—to grant her permanent freedom and allow her to finally reunite with her family. After enduring so much injustice, her plea remains simple: Let her come home for good.”

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