Photo: Mary Jane Veloso

MANILA, Philippines – Filipina death row convict Mary Jane Veloso is set to come home from Indonesia on December 18.

The news was confirmed by Indonesia’s Deputy Coordinator of Immigration and Corrections Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram in a press conference. 

Veloso, a former domestic worker and a mother of two, has been jailed in Indonesia since 2010 after being found carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage. She was nearly executed by firing squad in 2015. 

She was allowed to return home after 15 years in prison following the repatriation agreement signed between Indonesia and the Philippines last Dec. 6 as a result of a decade of pleading from Manila. 

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Corrections and the National Bureau of Investigation are set to fly to Jakarta to facilitate the transfer arrangements for Veloso. 

The Philippine government will shoulder all the expenses for Veloso’s repatriation according to DFA Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega earlier said.

“Hindi na natin pinapunta yung family [sa Indonesia]… Ang the best diyan ay salubungin na lang nila [sa Pilipinas],” he said.

Veloso’s case stirred massive domestic protest in 2015 prompting a last minute absolution of her execution upon the appeal of the late President Benigno Aquino Jr. to the Indonesian government on the argument that she could be a state witness against drug syndicates. 

Reports of Veloso’s Philippine transfer earlier this year upon the assumption of power of now Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. 

President Marcos Jr. and other government officials welcomed Indonesia’s move to spare Veloso from execution.