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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
February 16, 2026 | 5:04pm
MANILA, Philippines — A migrant workers' group has called President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. "heartless" for failing to free Mary Jane Veloso, and challenged him to visit her in prison, more than a year after she was returned to the Philippines from Indonesia.
Veloso's parents and members of Migrante International held a picket at the Department of Justice on Monday, February 16, as the group renewed calls for Veloso's release.
"Marcos has all the power to free Mary Jane. He is heartless for not using it," said Joanna Concepcion, Migrante International's chairperson, in a statement.
Concepcion said it was "cruel" for the Palace to tell Veloso to write directly to Marcos, noting that the family and supporters have submitted 13,537 petition signatures calling for clemency since 2024.
"It is he who should have the compassion to meet her in prison. We challenge Marcos to visit Mary Jane and hear her story," she said.
Veloso has been detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong since her repatriation from Indonesia in December 2024. She spent nearly 15 years in Indonesian prisons after being arrested in Yogyakarta in April 2010 with 2.6 kilograms of heroin concealed in a suitcase given to her by her recruiters.
She was sentenced to death but won a last-minute reprieve in 2015 after the late President Benigno Aquino III appealed to his Indonesian counterpart, then-Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
In a handwritten open letter and released through Migrante in January, Veloso appealed for her freedom, reiterating her innocence and expressing a desire to be reunited with her family, whom she has been separated from for more than 16 years.
"I just want you to know how difficult it is for me to see my elderly parents, who come all the way from Nueva Ecija, travel 8-10 hours just to visit me. And they still have to find money for their fare and food to bring to me," Veloso wrote in her letter.
"They no longer care about their own condition because they are elderly, just seeing me to ease their loneliness. But for some inexplicable reason, here I am a year later, still imprisoned, even though I did nothing wrong and I have done nothing wrong to our country," she wrote in Filipino.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said February 10 that the Office of the Executive Secretary was reviewing the terms of the Philippines-Indonesia transfer arrangement and that the final decision on clemency remained with Marcos.
A day earlier, Castro said Veloso should communicate her plea directly to the president rather than through an open letter — a remark Migrante rejected, pointing to the multiple petitions already filed through official channels.
Marcos previously said it would take a long time to determine whether freeing Veloso was "appropriate."
Why is she still detained?
Veloso has no pending criminal case in the Philippines. She is the complainant in the trafficking and illegal recruitment case against her recruiters Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, who were convicted by the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court in 2020 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Department of Justice has recognized Veloso as a trafficking victim. Her lawyers at the National Union of People's Lawyers argue that her continued detention violates the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, which prohibits penalizing victims for acts that are a direct result of being trafficked.
In November 2025, Veloso's parents Celia and Cesar filed a habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court, arguing there is no legal basis for her imprisonment. The NUPL, which filed the petition, say that Veloso's detention rests on a "practical arrangement" between Manila and Jakarta rather than any treaty, court order, or enabling law.
Rep. Sarah Jane Elago (Gabriela Partylist) filed House Resolution No. 583 in December 2025, urging Marcos to grant clemency.
Migrante called on the administration to allow the habeas corpus petition to proceed and for Veloso's testimony against her traffickers to suffer no more delays.
