Mary Jane Veloso to return to PH on Dec. 18 —DFA 

After more than a decade, convicted overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso will make her homecoming just in time for Christmas on Wednesday, December 18, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. 

DFA Undersecretary Tess Lazaro said that Veloso’s expected time of departure from Jakarta, Indonesia is at 12:50 a.m. and she will land in Manila at 6 a.m. 

Veloso, 39, is on death sentence for drug trafficking after she was caught with 2.6 kilos of heroin in Indonesia in 2010.

In 2015, then Indonesian President Joko Widodo said their government gave Veloso only a "temporary reprieve” from her scheduled execution in relation to alleged human trafficking. 

She reunited with her family after five years last June 2023 after they visited her in Yogyakarta.  

In January, Veloso’s family sent letters to Widodo and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appeal her clemency.

Last November, Marcos said  Manila and Jakarta reached an agreement to transfer Veloso to the Philippines, thanking new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and his government for their goodwill. 

Veloso's parents, Cesar and Celia, appealed to the Philippine government for her to be transferred to a safe local facility due to concerns over threats coming from the international drug syndicate that implicated her. 

Malacañang said Veloso’s homecoming to her homeland is “the fruit of more than a decade of persistent discussions, consultations and diplomacy.”  

“Duty-bound as we are to honor the conditions for her transfer to the Philippine jurisdiction, we are truly elated to welcome Mary Jane back to her homeland and family, from whom she has been distracted for too long,” said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.—LDF, GMA Integrated News