Veloso wants ex-recruiters to clear her name in court

MANILA, Philippines — Mary Jane Veloso, the drug trafficking convict who was granted pardon by President Marcos last week, is pushing through with the criminal cases she filed against her illegal recruiters in an effort to clear her name.

Released from prison on Sept. 25, she is set to appear in a Nueva Ecija court for the case this November.

Veloso, who faced the media at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday, said she wanted her ex-recruiters to declare her innocence in court after getting her involved unknowingly in drug trafficking, for which she was convicted and initially put on death row in Indonesia.

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“[My] only message to them is that I hope they themselves would acknowledge that I am not at fault. That is important, after all,” she said at a press conference, referring to Maria Cristina Sergio, alias Mary Christine Guilles Pasadilla, and Julius Lacanilao.

“That is precisely why I fought back. That is why I filed charges against them—so that the truth would come out,” she added.

In April 2010, Veloso was recruited by her neighbors in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, to work in Malaysia as a domestic helper.

When Veloso arrived in Malaysia, however, she was informed that the job was no longer available and that she would be sent to Indonesia for a holiday instead.

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She was arrested at the airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on April 25, 2010, for an alleged attempt to smuggle over 2.6 kilograms of heroin. Veloso insisted she was unaware of the drugs found in the luggage given to her by her recruiters.

On Oct. 11, 2010, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. Over the next four years, the Philippine government appealed her case before the Indonesian Supreme Court.

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On April 28, 2015, Sergio and Lacanilao surrendered to the Nueva Ecija police in Cabanatuan City. The National Bureau of Investigation later charged them—and a foreign national known only as Ike—with illegal recruitment, human trafficking, and estafa.

The following day, Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve from being executed by firing squad.

In 2020, a Nueva Ecija court found Sergio and Lacanilao guilty in connection with a separate case of illegal recruitment (not involving Veloso) and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Veloso was repatriated to the Philippines in December 2024 to serve the rest of her commuted life sentence at the women’s correctional facility in Mandaluyong City. From there, she attended hearings online on the cases against her recruiters, according to the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).

Edre Olalia, one of Veloso’s lawyers from NUPL, told the Inquirer that she will make a court appearance for the start of the presentation of defense evidence on Nov. 17.

Nonpunishment principle

The DOJ, meanwhile, clarified that the President’s absolute pardon on Veloso was in keeping with the nonpunishment principle for human trafficking victims under the law and within the bounds of the agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia that allowed for her to return in 2024.

In a press conference on Thursday, DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Ty explained that the two countries agreed that the continued enforcement of the sentence of Veloso would be governed by laws and procedures of the Philippines, including the exclusive prerogative of the President to grant various forms of executive clemency.

This, he noted, was contained in the agreement signed by the DOJ and Indonesian counterparts in December 2024, when Veloso was repatriated back to the Philippines after 16 years in detention.

Vida also said nothing from the agreement was violated and that the Philippine government did not also need to secure an approval from Indonesia.

“After all, this involves mutual respect for each other’s systems … We know they are our Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors … We know that our Indonesian brothers also recognize the authority of the President to grant an absolute pardon. That’s why we do not foresee any obstacles or any missteps with regards to Indonesia’s perspective on this matter,” the justice chief said.

Officials also pointed out that DOJ prosecutors had been trying to prove to Indonesian authorities that Veloso was a victim of human trafficking even when they were still in the early stages of negotiation more than a decade ago.

According to Ty, the country’s human trafficking laws observe the principle of nonpunishment for victims, but its application is “not simple” as many factors come into play.

“It depends on whether the country recognizes the individual as a victim of human trafficking in order to grant them the benefits of that principle. That is precisely where all our negotiations came into play. That is why, as early as 2015, we needed to demonstrate to the Indonesian government that a genuine case of human trafficking was involved,” said Ty.

Under this principle, human trafficking victims like Veloso should not be held liable for criminal acts they allegedly committed, he stressed.

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“In other words, if they were coerced, abused, or deceived into performing certain acts—such as transporting drugs, as happened in Mary Jane’s case—they should not be held accountable … We adhere to it. But (this principle) is also observed across various laws and by our Asean neighbors, such as Indonesia,” said Ty. —WITH INQUIRER RESEARCH