Mary Jane Veloso, who gained international attention after being arrested in 2010 for drug trafficking in Indonesia, is set to return to the Philippines on Wednesday and she will be immediately taken to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW), her home for the next 60 days.
Accompanied by a team led by Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., Veloso will arrive aboard a Cebu Pacific flight at around 5 a.m. today.
“We’re celebrating already,” said an excited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who remained undecided about meeting Veloso at her homecoming.
According to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, her homecoming is the “fruit of more than a decade of persistent discussions, consultations and diplomacy.”
60 days at CIW
Catapang said Veloso will undergo established protocols, including a five-day quarantine, followed by 55 days of orientation, diagnostic evaluation and initial security classification, citing Bucor’s manual on the admission and confinement persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
Catapang explained that as a newly committed PDL, Veloso will first be housed at the Reception and Diagnostic Center (RDC).
Following this, she will be transferred to her assigned correctional facility according to the approved resolution from the RDC Initial Classification Board.
During the initial five-day quarantine, Veloso will be placed in a regular quarantine cell for medical observation. A thorough medical and physical examination will assess her physical and mental health, including any disabilities or illnesses.
Additionally, Veloso will be interviewed by the CIW overseer, who will collect the necessary personal information to complete her registration form, including the names of her relatives and authorized visitors.
After the quarantine period ends on 24 December, Veloso’s immediate family will be allowed to visit her, Catapang said.
For the next 55 days, Veloso will undergo mandatory orientation on the rules and regulations of the correctional facility, her rights and privileges as a PDL, diagnostic procedures, reformation programs, health services, time allowances, and the PDL grievance machinery.
Catapang assured the public and Veloso’s family that she and her alleged illegal recruiter would be confined in separate facilities to ensure that they do not come into contact with one another.
Clemency pushed
The parents of Veloso renewed their plea to Marcos to grant their daughter executive clemency.
In a television interview, Celia and Celso Veloso said an executive clemency granted to Mary Jane by the President would a “gift” to their family this Christmas.
“We are very happy. We hope that what we have been wishing for from our dear President, that when she arrives in the Philippines, he will grant clemency so that we can be reunited with Mary Jane,” Celia said.
“It has been almost 14 years since we’ve been with Mary Jane. We hope he will grant this now. We hope he will give it as a Christmas gift to our family,” she added.
Despite her return to the Philippines, Veloso will still serve her sentence as part of the agreement between the Philippine and Indonesian governments.
Despite the clamor for amnesty, Bersamin asked the public to wait until Veloso returned.
“We will not talk about that yet. Let’s wait for her repatriation because it’s premature to speculate on what we will do,” he told Palace reporters in an interview.
When asked if the Indonesian government requested that Veloso serve her sentence,
Bersamin said he had yet to read the agreement between the Department of Justice and its Indonesian counterpart.
Sentenced to death
A mother of two, Veloso gained international attention after she was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 for drug trafficking. She was accused of attempting to smuggle 2.6 kilograms of heroin into the country.
She denied knowing the drugs were in her luggage, claiming she was duped by her recruiter.
In 2015, Veloso was sentenced to death by firing squad. Her case drew widespread attention in the Philippines and abroad, sparking a campaign for her release.
Supporters argued that she was a victim of human trafficking, exploited by a syndicate that used her to transport drugs without her knowledge.
The Philippine government, along with human rights groups and advocates, lobbied for clemency from the Indonesian government.
Veloso’s case reached a critical point in April 2015 when she was scheduled for execution along with nine other drug convicts.
However, at the last moment, the Indonesian government postponed her execution after the Philippine government intervened, presenting new evidence that she was a trafficking victim. This led to a reprieve, and Veloso was spared from execution.
