Philippines frees woman who faced death sentence in Indonesia

A Filipina who spent almost 15 years on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking walked free on Friday after receiving a presidential pardon.

Mary Jane Veloso shows her inked fingers after getting finger printed during a booking process inside the prison facilities at the Correctional Institution for Women in Manila on December 18, 2024. (File photo: AFP)

A beaming Mary Jane Veloso clutched the document signed by President Ferdinand Marcos granting her "absolute pardon" after leaving her Manila prison cell late on Friday.

"I wish to convey my gratitude to our dear president who cleared my name and allowed me to reunite with my family," she told a news conference.

Veloso said she was looking forward to being reunited with her two sons.

"I was unable to supervise them as they grew up, but I believe it's not too late," she said.

Veloso was arrested and sentenced to death by an Indonesian court in 2010 after the suitcase she was carrying was found to be lined with 2.6 kilograms (5.7 pounds) of heroin.

Indonesia spared her from execution in 2015 after Philippines authorities arrested her suspected recruiter, who is accused of duping her into carrying the false-bottomed suitcase containing the illegal drugs.

Jakarta handed her over to Manila in 2024 under a "practical arrangement" for her repatriation, allowing her to serve the rest of her sentence in a Philippine prison.

"I'll give you a scoop: I signed her pardon yesterday," Marcos told reporters earlier on Friday.

Veloso had travelled to Indonesia to seek work as a maid and her case sparked uproar in the Philippines.

Many Filipinos regarded her as a poster child of the Philippine economic diaspora -- the millions of able-bodied Filipinos who seek better-paying work abroad in hopes of helping their families escape widespread poverty.

She and her supporters maintained she was duped by an international drug syndicate.

"They were so happy," her mother, Celia Veloso, said earlier of Veloso's two sons after being informed of the pardon.

"'We will finally be able to be with mama', that's what they told me," she told AFP by phone.