Can't DDS just be happy for Mary Jane?

"Ang sarap talaga maging KRIMINAL ngayon lalo na pag tungkol sa mga ILLEGAL DRUGS at mga TERORISTANG NPA VERY SAFE ka sa GOBYERNONG NGIWEAK!" — a comment from one DAILY TRIBUNE post.

Filipinos' perspective on Mary Jane Veloso has shifted drastically over the past decade. The sympathy has vanished. The collective anxiety over a human life is barely visible. The Filipino mindset is now deeply, politically divided.

The Mary Jane we once knew represented the ordinary Filipino—someone whose life was marked by hardship while simply trying to make an honest living as a single mother. An innocent person preyed upon by one’s wickedness, thrust onto death row a thousand miles away from her loved ones.

At its core, her story was deeply relatable. It touched upon the familial bonds that we, as a nation, cherish most.

How many of us are OFWs, or who come from families with one? How many are single mothers? How many parents are forced to live away from their children? How many children grew up without their parents?

Her story wasn't just hers. It was ours. She was one of us.

When her case first broke into national and global headlines, a wave of sympathy swept the nation, with countless people saying, "kawawa naman." People united in prayer through the #SaveMaryJane campaign.

Her ordeal even served as a tragic warning to tighten security around OFWs' luggage and be mindful of “padala” scam.

Now that she has finally seen the light of day, wrapped in the tearful embrace of her parents and children, she returns to a Philippines that is no longer the same country she has left.

It seems as though the toxicity of modern Philippine politics has washed away the compassion of many.

Just because former President Rodrigo Duterte previously gave a green light to then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo to proceed with her execution, and just because it is President Marcos Jr. who gave her an absolute pardon, the entire narrative has been twisted into a partisan battleground.

"HAHA" reactions and bitter comments now flood social media posts.

When the Gabriela Women’s Party welcomed her upon her release, DAILY TRIBUNE commenters sneered, "Hala na recruit kaagad" and "My runner n c bangag."

When she called out her recruiters and pleaded, "Tama na ang pagsisinungaling," one commenter wrote, "Kaya hindi tnulongan ni PRRD kasi may attitude.. Demanding.. Marami pa namang mas worth it tulongan maliban sa knya.. Yung mga naabuso hindi ung dahip sa droga."

This hostility isn't isolated to Daily Tribune. Across social media, commentators obsess over hypothetical scenarios, imagining her life if the 2.6 kilograms of heroin had gone undetected: "Sobrang yaman na sana to ngayon kung nakalusot...," one wrote.

Sure enough, many have congratulated her release, likely including some DDS. Yet the blatant online slander generated by others steals the spotlight, robbing a free person of the joy she rightfully deserves.

14 years in an Indonesian cell. Two years in the Philippines. Yet it seems Mary Jane Veloso's prison still casts a shadow over her freedom, torturing her through the eyes of her own people, through the words of her own kind, in her very own language, and in her own homeland.