Mary Jane Veloso, a former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who spent years on death row due to drug charges in Indonesia, is finally freed after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted her absolute pardon.

In an ambush interview, Marcos said he signed the absolute pardon of Veloso on Thursday nearly two years since Indonesia transferred her to the Philippines.

''Ok, I will give you a scoop. I signed her pardon yesterday," Marcos told reporters.

Edre Olalia, a lawyer who helped craft Veloso's appeal for pardon to Marcos, told ANC Dateline that the news came when they were meeting over another case. ''This is unprecedented,'' said Olalia, who described how they rejoiced when they heard the news.

Veloso is detained at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.

On Friday night, Bilyonaryo News Channel quoted Celia, Mary Jane's mother, as saying her daughter was asking them to fetch her.

She was handed over to the Bureau of Corrections on December 18, 2024, after spending 14 years in an Indonesian prison.

Veloso was arrested for drug trafficking charges in 2010.

She has consistently maintained her innocence, claiming she was duped into carrying illegal substances by her recruiters at an airport.

Hours before her execution by firing squad on April 29, 2015, Veloso was granted a reprieve when late President Benigno Aquino III made a last-minute appeal for the Indonesians to spare her life after her illegal recruiter surrendered in the Philippines. Robina Asido/PHS