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Marcos grants absolute pardon to Mary Jane Veloso

By Cecile Baltasar
Published Sep 25, 2026 11:42 am Add PhilSTAR Life on Google
Devi Rahman / AFP

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed he signed the order granting absolute pardon to detained overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso. 

In an ambush interview on Friday, Sept. 25, Marcos told the media, "Pinirmahan ko na 'yung pardon niya kahapon."

Veloso was arrested at Adisucipto International Airport in the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia on April 25, 2010 after officials found her in possession of over 2.6 kilos of heroin. The OFW said she was unaware of the contents of her luggage. She explained her recruiters Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao gave her the luggage.

Nevertheless, Veloso was sentenced to death in April 2015. At the last minute, the Indonesian government gave her a reprieve after former president Noynoy Aquino made an appeal. 

In December 2024, after spending nearly 14 years in an Indonesian prison, Veloso came home to the Philippines, but remained in detention.

This is a developing story.

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TAGS: HUMAN TRAFFICKING mary jane veloso absolute pardon

About the author

Cecile Baltasar

Cecile is a lifestyle writer who also tackles anything else the PhilSTAR L!fe eds throw her way. She began writing professionally in ’99, and is still learning every day. (Today, she learned from her Gen Z kids that being salty has nothing to do with cooking.)