Dear President Marcos Jr: Release Mary Jane Veloso

By E. Maestro

The Global Pinoy Diaspora Canada and Malaya Movement Canada initiated a petition and open letter in early December to ask the release of Mary Jane Veloso who continues to be detained at the Correctional Institution for Women. The petition is addressed to Philippines President Marcos, Jr, , Acting Secretary Fredderick Vida of the Department of Justice, General  Gregorio Catapang, Jr, of the Bureau of Corrections and Victor Chan-Gonzaga, the Philippine Ambassador to Canada. There was hope that Mary Jane Veloso would have been released on International Migrants Day (Dec 18) or on Christmas Day but that hope is now focused on the mass releases in the New Year 2026.  

Here is the full text of the letter:

“We, the undersigned individuals and organizations of the Filipino community in Canada, respectfully petition the Philippine Government to grant the immediate release of Mary Jane Veloso in the spirit of the Christmas season.

This year marks the 15th year, and counting, since Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina migrant worker, was arrested in Indonesia in 2010 for alleged drug trafficking, imprisoned, and sentenced to death.

In 2015, Mary Jane was spared from her execution by firing squad with a last-minute reprieve from the Indonesian government. Overwhelming support from the Philippines and around the world helped save her life and she was returned back to death row.

In 2024, the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines signed a transfer agreement to send Mary Jane home to the Philippines. On December 18, 2024, on  International Migrants Day, after 14 years in prison, nine years of those on death row,  Mary Jane Veloso came home to the Philippines. But instead of freedom and a return home to the embrace of her two sons and her aging parents, she was driven from the airport to the Philippine Women’s Correctional Institute where she remains to this day.

Mr. President, our appeal for clemency for Mary Jane Veloso is based on the following grounds:

1. Mary Jane Veloso has already served more than sufficient time for a crime she did not commit. She has spent 15 years behind bars and continues to languish in jail. Philippine and International human rights groups, legal advocates, and migrant worker organizations recognize her as a victim of labour trafficking. There is no legal or political basis for Mary Jane Veloso’s continued detention in the Philippines. Mary Jane Veloso’s traffickers, the two people who illegally recruited her and used her as a drug mule, have already been  arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of illegal recruitment and estafa by the Philippine Supreme Court in January 2020.

2. Her continued detention in the Philippines lacks legal, moral and human rights justification. Mary Jane Veloso’s family and legal counsel from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers continue to assert that Veloso’s continued confinement is unlawful as she is not convicted under Philippine law. Her lawyers have asked the Supreme Court last November 2025, through a habeas corpus petition, to review the legality of Veloso’s continued detention in the Philippines and secure her release.

Mr. President, we respectfully ask that you grant Mary Jane Veloso executive clemency  on humanitarian grounds, as is your sole power and privilege as President. Her release, hopefully before or on International Migrants Day, December 18, in time for Christmas Day will be welcomed by Mary Jane, her sons, her elderly parents and the Filipino community, both local and overseas, who have followed Mary Jane Veloso’s case for years. 

Mary Jane Veloso was 25 years old when she was arrested in Indonesia. She is now 40 years old; her two sons have grown up without their mother and still under the care of her elderly parents who have worked tirelessly for her release. 

Mr. President, in the spirit of the Christmas season, we ask that Mary Jane Veloso be freed.”

The letter /petition was initially signed by 28 organization signatures across BC, Canada and outside of Canada and 117 individual signatures.  It declared that more signatures would follow.  

The petition is available here https://tinyurl.com/christmas4maryjane and those interested to support the call for the release of Mary Jane Veloso can add their names