Overview
- President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday he signed a presidential pardon for Mary Jane Veloso, ending the Philippine government’s formal custody of her sentence.
- Officials say Veloso is expected to be freed because there are no other active cases against her, but the administration has not provided a timetable or described the administrative steps required for her release.
- Veloso was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 after 2.6 kilograms of heroin were found in a suitcase, was convicted and sentenced to death in Indonesia, and has long maintained she was an unwitting drug mule.
- Her execution was stayed in 2015 after Philippine authorities detained a suspected recruiter, and Jakarta returned her to the Philippines in December 2024 under an agreement that deferred post-transfer clemency decisions to Manila.
- The pardon brings relief to Veloso’s family and focuses attention on protections for overseas workers, the role of presidential clemency in cases involving foreign sentences, and possible follow-up scrutiny of human trafficking and recruitment networks.