Veloso’s Homecoming: Filipina on Death Row Prepares for Return After 14 Years

Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina drug addict, has returned home after 14 years.

Arriving in Manila at approximately 5:50 a.m., the 39-year-old mother was detained and given a death sentence by Indonesian police in 2010 after 2.6 kilograms of heroin were discovered in her luggage. Wednesday on flight 5J 760 of Cebu Pacific.

Earlier on Tuesday night, she gave her family a surprise phone call from Jakarta. Veloso called inside the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta as his relatives were dining at the Migrante International Headquarters in Quezon City.

"Nabigla kami nung may tumatawag kay tatay atsaka kay nanay... tumatawag from overseas tapos si Mary Jane pala. Iyakan talaga at hiyawan. (kailan tumawag?) Noong nasa [airport] lounge na siya. Tuwang tuwa ‘yung mga kapatid," said Josie Pingkihan, Deputy Secretary General of Migrante International.

“Yun po, yun nga po sobrang saya po naming lahat, lahat po kami dito nakausap po siya, yun nga po umiiyak po na sobrang saya po, makakauwi na po siya. Sobrang saya po kasi po eh yun nga po mabubuo na po yung pamilya namin na ngayong Pasko po at bagong taon po,” said Mark Danielle Candelaria, Veloso's eldest son.

A Philippine prison has taken in drug boss Mary Jane Veloso, who was given a death sentence in 2010 for 2.6 kg of heroin discovered in her luggage. Her arrival at NAIA Terminal 3 has prevented her relatives from seeing her and giving her a hug. NBI, Bureau of Correction, and DOJ officials helped transport Mary Jane to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong, where she was reunited her relatives.

The family hopes that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would pardon Mary Jane, who was set to be put to death in 2015 but was saved because her recruiters were apprehended. Veloso's family is also praying for Mary Jane to be granted amnesty because she wasn't a victim of human trafficking in the Philippines.

Via ABS-CBN News