Philippine groups welcomed the freedom of Mary Jane Veloso while urging the government to strengthen protections for overseas workers, pursue justice for trafficking victims, and hold illegal recruiters accountable.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP)migrants ministry said Veloso’s absolute pardon ended years of hardship for the former overseas Filipino worker and her family.
Bishop Socrates Mesiona, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, said on Sept. 27 that “we are happy that Mary Jane Veloso has been granted an absolute pardon. We know that she and her family have gone through a lot.”
Mesiona spoke on the sidelines of the 40th National Migrants’ Sunday in Quezon City.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Veloso’s absolute pardon Sept. 24, ending her imprisonment following her conviction for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin through an Indonesian airport in 2010.
Veloso, 41 and a mother of two, has maintained that recruiters deceived her into carrying the drugs.
She was sentenced to death but received a last-minute reprieve from execution in 2015 after the Philippine government asked Indonesia to allow her to testify against her alleged traffickers.
Veloso returned to the Philippines in December 2024 after Manila and Jakarta agreed to let her serve the remainder of her sentence in the country.
A day after the pardon, she attended a Thanksgiving Mass with her family at St. Catherine of Siena Chapel in Quezon City.
Mesiona also expressed gratitude to those who worked for Veloso’s release, saying, “We are grateful to those who took steps to help and free someone like Mary Jane Veloso.”
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, president of Caritas Philippines, welcomed Veloso’s return and said her ordeal should remind authorities to protect vulnerable migrant workers.
Alminaza described her release as the end of “a long and painful journey,” saying, “Mary Jane Veloso is home at last. What a long and painful journey it has been.”
He also expressed hope that her return would bring healing to her family.
“May this homecoming bring healing and renewed hope to her and her family. And may no one ever have to endure what she has gone through,” Alminaza said.
Churches Witnessing with Migrants, or CWWM, and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, or NCCP, also welcomed Veloso’s release and said her case should renew efforts to protect migrants and trafficking victims.
CWWM spokesperson Rev. Marie Sol Villalon said churches, people’s organizations and communities in the Philippines and abroad had accompanied Veloso throughout her years in detention.
According to Villalon, “For all these years, churches, people’s organizations, and communities in the Philippines, alongside our partners and friends in Indonesia and around the world, walked with her, prayed for her, and called on both governments to uphold justice and release her.”
CWWM and NCCP said Veloso went abroad in search of work to support her family but was deceived by recruiters and became a victim of human trafficking.
The groups called for governments to protect the rights and dignity of migrant workers and ensure justice for those subjected to trafficking, exploitation and detention.
Villalon urged continued action beyond Veloso’s release.
“Let us continue to forge a society where no one is forced to risk their life and freedom simply to provide for their family, a society where migrant workers are protected, victims of trafficking are given justice, and no one is left behind because of poverty or government neglect,” she said.
Villalon also said, “Mary Jane’s freedom reminds us that when people come together, hope can prevail.”
The Ecumenical Bishops Forum, or EBF, likewise welcomed the pardon but said Veloso’s freedom should draw attention to migrant workers facing exploitation, trafficking and prosecution abroad.
The forum thanked Marcos for granting executive clemency while urging his administration to prevent similar cases of injustice.
The bishops said Veloso’s experience should be viewed beyond her own years of imprisonment.
“Mary Jane’s story must therefore be remembered not only as the story of one Filipina who endured years of imprisonment,” the EBF said. “It must awaken us to the continuing plight of migrant workers, women in precarious circumstances, victims of human trafficking, and those whose poverty and desperation make them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.”
The EBF called for stronger safeguards for Filipino migrant workers, meaningful legal assistance for those facing prosecution overseas and accountability for traffickers and illegal recruiters.
The bishops said, “Mary Jane’s freedom must call us to greater vigilance and deeper solidarity.”
The forum also said Veloso’s release should widen, rather than end, concern for others facing similar circumstances.
“May Mary Jane’s freedom become not the end of our concern, but the widening of it,” the bishops said.
The EBF pledged to continue accompanying “the poor, the vulnerable, the trafficked, the imprisoned, and all whose dignity has been diminished by structures of injustice.”
It also called for protection and justice for others facing similar abuse, saying, “Let all victims of human trafficking and exploitation find protection and vindication.”
