“That is my only wish. I just want to be given the chance to be a daughter and take care of my aging parents, and to be a mother to my children who have been separated from me for almost fifteen years.”
MANILA — For Mary Jane Veloso, freedom remains an answered prayer still waiting to be fulfilled.
“A second chance,” said Veloso during a short interview with Bulatlat after a mass and solidarity program organized by human rights group Karapatan and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago.
“That is my only wish. I just want to be given the chance to be a daughter and take care of my aging parents, and to be a mother to my children who have been separated from me for almost fifteen years.”
More than a year after her transfer to the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City, Veloso remains in detention despite having no pending case before Philippine courts.
“It’s hard,” Veloso admitted when asked about life after her transfer from Indonesia to the Philippines.
“I’m happy that I am already back home here in the Philippines, but at the same time, it’s hard knowing that my family is so close to me yet I can’t see them whenever I want,” she said.
Veloso said her family tries to visit her regularly at the CIW, unlike during her incarceration in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, when visits were rare and difficult.
During her first months back in the country, her family visited almost weekly. But the long travel from Nueva Ecija to Mandaluyong has become increasingly difficult for her aging parents.
“They have to leave Nueva Ecija at dawn and then stay here the whole day. Most of the time, they only get home around midnight. That kind of trip is difficult for them already,” she told Bulatlat.
Veloso also added that the frequent trips cost a lot financially. According to Veloso, they initially managed through support from sponsors, but sustaining the visits has become harder as her detention drags on.
When Bulatlat asked if she encountered difficulties adjusting after her transfer, Veloso said the women political prisoners inside the CIW helped her through the transition and made her feel less alone.
She added that she was inspired by them, “because they choose to continue to fight even if their bravery can lead them to danger.”
Veloso was among the 12 detainees visited by Karapatan and other human rights advocates on May 29 as part of a post-Mother’s Day and post-Women’s Month solidarity activity.
Eleven of the detainees are political prisoners, including Tacloban-based community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and layworker Marielle Domequil, who were transferred to the CIW earlier this month after being convicted on what rights groups described as trumped-up terrorism financing charges.
Despite repeated petitions and appeals seeking clemency for Veloso, the Philippine government has yet to act to expedite her release.
Earlier this month, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), together with Veloso’s parents, filed a Motion to Resolve before the Supreme Court, urging the tribunal to act on the writ of habeas corpus filed by Veloso’s camp in 2024.
In the petition, Veloso argued that she continues to serve a sentence of reclusion perpetua despite the absence of legal basis for such classification.
“But because my family chooses to continue to fight, I will also continue to believe that justice still exists, and I know that I will eventually attain it,” she continued. (AMU, RTS)
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