Metro Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted an absolute pardon to convicted drug trafficker Mary Jane Veloso, ending the overseas worker’s more than 16 years behind bars in Indonesia and the country.
“Pinirmahan ko na ang pardon niya kahapon,” Marcos said in an ambush interview on Friday, Sept. 25, two days after the Palace press officer confirmed that the president was considering granting Veloso an absolute pardon on humanitarian grounds
[Translation: I signed her pardon yesterday.]
Veloso was sentenced to death in Indonesia. She was arrested in 2010 after she was found with 2.6 kilograms of heroin concealed in her suitcase.
Her execution was halted in 2015, shortly before she was scheduled to be put to death, after Philippine authorities intervened and said she was a human trafficking victim.
Indonesia transferred Veloso to Philippine custody in December 2024, where she has since served time at the Correctional Institution for Women.
The absolute presidential pardon clears the way for her release.
