At long last, Mary Jane Veloso back home in Nueva Ecija
NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines – After 16 years in prison, Mary Jane Veloso returned home to her province of Nueva Ecija as a free woman on Saturday, September 26.
Her much-awaited homecoming came a day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed he granted an absolute pardon to Veloso for the drug trafficking conviction handed down by an Indonesian court in 2010.
The release of the former overseas Filipino worker from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City was formalized hours after Marcos’ announcement on Friday, September 25.
Veloso’s family immediately headed to Manila to greet her upon her release, and accompany her on the journey to their town of General Mamerto Natividad in Nueva Ecija.
Before returning home, Veloso and her family attended Mass at the Siena College Chapel in Quezon City on Saturday morning. She called her freedom a blessing from the Lord, one that she has fervently prayed for all these years.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa ating Poong Maykapal. Alam ko po na lahat po ng nangyari sa akin na kabutihan ngayong araw na ‘to ay nagmula po sa Kanya,” Veloso, now 41 years old, said in a press conference after the Mass.
(I give thanks to God Almighty. I know that all of the goodness I experienced today came from Him.)
In front of the media, Veloso also recited a poem that she said she was able to put together with help from fellow persons deprived of liberty at the CIW. The poem, titled “Pilipino Ako, Pilipino Ang Wika Ko,” was set to be presented inside the prison facility next week had she not been released.
She also sang the OPM song “Maghintay Ka Lamang,” with her family joining the emotional performance.
It is a meaningful song for Veloso as she used to sing it with her two sons, Mark Daniel Candelaria and Mark Darren Candelaria.
The boys also dedicated the song to their mother on April 23, 2015, days before her scheduled April 29 execution in Indonesia. They were then aged 12 and 6, respectively.
Now, at 23 and 17, the young men are finally reunited with their mother.
Veloso had been granted a last-minute reprieve from execution in Indonesia, but it would take nine more years of detention there before her transfer to the Philippines on December 18, 2024. Appeals for pardon after she was brought back to the country were not immediately granted, so she was detained at the CIW.
By the afternoon of September 26, 2026, Veloso arrived in Nueva Ecija, where a surprise celebration was waiting. – Rappler.com
