Visit Mary Jane Veloso, Marcos urged

AN OVERSEAS Filipino worker advocacy group on Monday called on President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to personally visit Mary Jane F. Veloso in prison and expedite her clemency, a year after she was transferred to Philippine custody.

In a picket at the Department of Justice, supporters of Ms. Veloso noted that the family has submitted thousands of clemency pleas since 2024, as Migrante International Chairperson Joanna Concepcion said in a statement that Malacañang’s recent suggestion for a personal appeal is “cruel.”

“Marcos has all the power to free Mary Jane. He is heartless for not using it,” Ms. Concepcion said. “It is he who should have the compassion to meet her in prison.”

The group also urged the government to resolve a habeas corpus petition filed on Nov. 14, 2025, which challenges the legality of her continued detention at the Correctional Institution for Women.

Ms. Veloso, who has been incarcerated for over 16 years following a 2010 drug trafficking conviction in Indonesia, recently issued an open letter seeking freedom to care for her aging parents and children. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking