FORMER overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso experienced a deeply emotional reunion with her loved ones early Saturday, stepping out from the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City as a free woman.
Her release came after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. granted her absolute pardon, drawing to a close years of uncertainty and separation from the people she holds dearest. The long-awaited gathering unfolded in touching scenes, capturing the relief and joy shared across her family after years of waiting and hoping for this moment.
Traveling from their home in Nueva Ecija, Mary Jane’s family made the journey to Mandaluyong together, carried by a coaster that brought her parents, Caesar and Celia Veloso, and her children to the correctional facility gates.
When they arrived, Mary Jane was already waiting at the entrance alongside Bureau of Corrections personnel, dressed simply in a white T-shirt and pants with her hair tied back in a ponytail—standing ready to welcome them after so long apart. The meeting was marked by tears, embraces, and quiet words of love, as her mother wept openly and repeated that she still could not believe her daughter was finally by her side again.
In exchanges that reflected both tenderness and gratitude, Mary Jane expressed her own disbelief, saying, “I can’t believe it. But the Lord is kind,” while promising to care for her parents now that she had returned home. Her mother, in turn, insisted she would look after Mary Jane instead, and the pair shared lighthearted moments too—including talk of simple, comforting meals and grilled food she had been longing to eat. After enduring years of detention, diplomatic efforts, and anxious waiting, Mary Jane Veloso has come home, reunited with the family she fought so hard to return to.
metrosundaily
