CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines — Celia Veloso, the mother of Mary Jane Veloso, said she only believed her daughter had finally secured her freedom after human rights lawyer Edre Olalia called her following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to grant Veloso an absolute pardon on Friday.
“Ako man eh hindi ko mapaniwalaan nung tumawag si Atty. Edre dun pa lang ako ano…” Celia said, explaining that she could not believe the reports until Olalia called her.
Former Nueva Ecija 3rd District Rep. Ria Vergara also welcomed Marcos’ decision to pardon Veloso. Vergara had repeatedly appealed for mercy and urged authorities to give Veloso an opportunity to start a new life.
Veloso lives in Barangay Caudillo in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.
Indonesian authorities arrested Veloso in 2010 after they found drugs in her luggage at an airport. An Indonesian court later convicted her and sentenced her to death.
Veloso has maintained that traffickers duped her into carrying the drugs.
Authorities postponed her execution in 2015 after then-President Benigno Aquino III intervened as her testimony became important to the Philippine case against her alleged recruiters.
Veloso returned to the Philippines in 2024 after the Philippine and Indonesian governments reached an agreement that allowed her to serve the remainder of her sentence in the Philippines.
Marcos signed the documents granting Veloso an absolute pardon on Friday, ending a long-running case that had kept her in prison since her arrest in Indonesia in 2010.
