Mary Jane Veloso, together with her family and supporters, attends a thanksgiving Mass at the Siena College Chapel in Quezon City on Saturday, September 26, 2026, following her release from detention after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted her an absolute pardon. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — When Indonesian authorities showed Mary Jane Veloso the powder hidden in her suitcase, she asked if it was flour. They told her it was drugs.
“Doon ako hindi nakapagsalita. Nanginig na ako, na ayun, parang gumuho na 'yung mundo ko na, wala na. Ganon, bakit nangyari sa akin ‘to? Halu-halo na,” Veloso said in an exclusive interview Saturday, after her release from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) following an absolute pardon from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Her arrest in 2010 began more than 16 years of imprisonment, including a sentence of death by firing squad in Indonesia.
Veloso recalled the despair that led her to hurt herself, the last-minute reprieve she calls a miracle, and the years it took to believe she could have a life beyond prison.
A FALSE PROMISE
Before her arrest, Veloso sold lumpia and balut and worked abroad to support her two sons and help her parents. She remembered her family once having to sleep on a patch of cleared grass after losing their place to stay.
“Tumatak talaga sa isip ko na, paglaki ko, gusto ko talagang maiahon sa hirap 'yung pamilya ko. Mabigyan ko ng bahay 'yung nanay at tatay ko,” she said.
After an earlier stint in Dubai that ended in a traumatic incident with another foreign co-worker, Veloso accepted an offer of domestic work in Malaysia from Maria Cristina Sergio and Sergio’s partner, Julius Lacanilao. Veloso said she trusted Lacanilao, whom she described as her kinakapatid.
Sergio accompanied her to Malaysia. Once there, Veloso said, Sergio told her that her prospective employer was overseas and they would have to wait several days. Sergio bought her clothes and provided a suitcase for them.
Veloso said Sergio later told her she needed to go to Indonesia but had only one ticket. Unwilling to be left alone in Malaysia, Veloso took the ticket instead. According to Veloso, Sergio promised to wait for her return and bring her to the employer when the employer came back.
Veloso packed the clothes herself in the suitcase Sergio had given her. She noticed that it felt heavy but accepted the explanation that it was new and had wheels.
At the airport in Indonesia, officers put the suitcase through an X-ray machine several times. When they showed her what was concealed inside, Veloso said she had no idea what it was.
“Ano po ba yan? Siyempre tinanong, sinagot ko pa, harina po ba yan? Ano po ba yan? Ba’t may harina dyan?” she recalled asking when officers showed her the powder.
Veloso was arrested in Yogyakarta in 2010 after heroin was found hidden in her luggage. She has maintained that she did not know it was there.
At first, she did not want to tell her family. They had urged her not to work abroad again after her difficult experience in Dubai, but she had been determined to provide for them.
“Nanay ko, tatay ko, mga kapatid ko, sabi nila, huwag na, kahit mahirap lang tayo..basta sama-sama tayo, okay na yun. Kaysa mapahamak ka..Eh wala eh, nangibabaw 'yung pangarap ko eh, para sa pamilya ko.”
TIMELINE: Mary Jane Veloso's decade-long ordeal from Indonesian death row to absolute pardon
YEARS WITHOUT HOPE
Veloso said the first five years in prison brought profound distress. She struggled to sleep without medication and repeatedly hurt herself.
“Five years po akong na-stress. Five years ako nagsubok na tapusin na 'yung buhay ko, inuumpog ko 'yung ulo ko, sinasaktan ko 'yung sarili ko, umabot ako sa gano’n,” she said.
She questioned why she had been separated from her children when all she had wanted was to give them a better life. Her family had not yet been able to visit her.
“Parang ipinagkanulo ko ang Panginoon. Nagalit ako sa kanya, as in, bakit ako nagkaganito, bakit mo ko binigyan ng ganitong problema, samantala wala namang akong ginagawang kasalanan?”
In April 2015, Veloso was taken to the Indonesian island where she was to be executed. She and her parents discussed her final wishes and what would happen to her body. Yet as the scheduled execution approached, she recalled feeling unexpectedly calm.
“'Yun nga po, sabi ko parang may bulong na, kalma. Parang okay na ‘yan. Kasi hindi mangyayari sa iyo ‘yan,” she said.
Her execution was halted at the last minute. Sergio had surrendered to Philippine authorities, and then-President Benigno Aquino III made a final appeal to Indonesia to spare Veloso so she could testify in the case against her alleged recruiters.
The other prisoners scheduled for execution that night were put to death. As Veloso was taken off the island, she saw ambulances carrying their bodies. She said she looked inside one.
“Dinungaw ko talaga siya. As in, nakita ko talaga na talagang natuloy sila. Kaya sabi ko, hala, Panginoon, sabi ko, kung hindi mo ko niligtas, isa ako diyan,” she recalled.
She was taken onto a boat, where she waited for the remains of those who had been executed.
But survival did not bring immediate relief. Back in prison, the fear she had barely felt while awaiting execution overwhelmed her. For three months, she struggled to speak to others. The sound of a door opening or an ambulance made her think she was about to be taken away to be executed.
Veloso said Fr. Bernhard Kieser, SJ, who ministered to her in Indonesia, continued to visit and read the Bible to her. She described him as a father figure who helped her regain hope. Kieser died in Yogyakarta on June 6, 2026.
“Sobrang laking tulong niya sa akin,” Veloso said. “Tumayo siya parang tatay sa akin noong nasa Indonesia ako.”
ANOTHER CHANCE AT LIFE
Mary Jane Veloso reunites with her family after arriving at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong on December 18, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
Veloso came to see her reprieve as another chance at life. In Indonesia’s prison, she learned batik, tie-dye, crochet and beadwork. She painted, played the keyboard at church and began writing poetry.
“Iniligtas ako ng Panginoon, binigyan niya ako ng isa pang buhay, ayokong sayangin iyon,” she said.
When Indonesia allowed her transfer to the Philippines in 2024, Veloso believed she would soon go home. She gave away her belongings before leaving. Instead, she was taken to CIW in Mandaluyong City to continue serving her sentence.
“Ba’t ba dadalhin pa ako rito eh ang usapan ganito, ganyan. Tapos hindi ko pa alam na iyong pinagdalhan sa akin ay kulungan,” she said.
The disappointment brought back sleeplessness and tears. Veloso said she was also distressed to learn that Sergio had been held at the same prison, although Sergio had been transferred before they encountered each other.
Over time, activities and responsibilities helped Veloso settle in. She said she became the officer in charge of Dorm J, helping resolve problems among the 172 women in her care.
“Sabi ko, hindi ko naalagaan iyong dalawang anak ko. Pero, naalagaan ko 172 na tao. At naging maayos naman ang lahat. Parang ini-ready ako para sa dalawa kong anak,” she said.
She encouraged fellow inmates with the story of her reprieve: “Ako nga eh, 20 minutes na lang, bibitayin na. Eh ano pa kayo? Kaya niyo ’yan.”
As she left CIW, Veloso said she hoped elderly and ill prisoners who had spent years inside would also get the chance to be with their families.
“Sobrang nalulungkot po ako doon sa mga matatanda na. Sobrang tatanda na nila. May mga sakit. Pero hindi pa po napapalaya,” she said.
Mary Jane Veloso’s family eyes new life together after absolute pardon
HOME AT LAST
Veloso learned of the pardon when other inmates saw the news on television and began cheering. She was afraid to believe she was truly going home until prison staff told her to call her family to pick her up.
After her release, she said, she could neither sleep nor eat. Her family stayed together, talking and catching up on lost time.
‘Hindi po ako iniwan ng pamilya ko’: Mary Jane Veloso spends first day with family after release
Veloso thanked those who supported her over the years, including Aquino and Marcos Jr., who granted her the absolute pardon.
She said she would continue pursuing the qualified human trafficking, illegal recruitment and estafa cases against Sergio and Lacanilao, whom she accuses of sending her to Indonesia with the suitcase.
In a separate case brought by three other complainants, a Nueva Ecija court convicted the pair of large-scale illegal recruitment in 2020 and sentenced them to life imprisonment and a P2-million fine.
“Kasi ang gusto ko po talaga ma-achieve doon, na ako, na wala akong kasalanan, na malinis nila iyong pangalan ko,” Veloso said.
For now, she wants to spend time with her sons and care for her aging parents. She also hopes to build a livelihood close to home.
DMW prepares reintegration aid for Mary Jane Veloso after pardon
Asked what she wanted to do first when she returned to Nueva Ecija, she gave a simple answer: “Matulog. ’Yan po, matulog kasama ang pamilya ko.”
The financial hardships that drove her to seek work abroad have not disappeared. But Veloso said she is ready to face them with her family beside her.
“Ready po, pero alam ko po makakaya ko siya. Kasi kasama ko ang aking pamilya.”
After nearly 17 years apart, Mary Jane Veloso returns home to Nueva Ecija
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