[Rappler’s Best] Mary Jane Veloso and Duterte’s snub - Rappler

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Former OFW and human trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso reunites with her family after Thanksgiving Mass at Siena College Chapel in Quezon City on September 26, 2026.

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It’s World News Day today, and there’s no better way to celebrate it than to take stock of why we do what we do. Human trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso — freed on Friday, September 25, after 16 long years in jail — is one of our whys. And the newly launched Muni platform enables us to do more, and do better.

Mary Jane’s journey spans presidents, countries, contexts, societies. At some point, it brought together the Aquino administration, citizens, journalists, a global community, and a social media platform that had not yet turned against public good.

To us and to many Filipinos, she would not be another Flor Contemplacion.

In her first and heartfelt interview after her release, Mary Jane told Rappler’s Jairo Bolledo that the truth set her free and that she wants to talk about this to inspire others. She finished high school from prison through alternative learning, and even ended up getting chosen as “dorm in charge” at the women’s correctional here. More than this, she’s grateful to the public and to the media for staying with her story. Watch it here.

When an Indonesian court sentenced Mary Jane to death by firing squad over drug smuggling in October 2010, the late president Noynoy Aquino was just four months into his presidency, while his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was just about to enter the second year of his second term as president. 

At this point, something beautiful happened: the Aquino administration, lawyers, citizens, journalists, and supporters from more than 120 countries came together to #SaveMaryJane. We wrote about the massive online campaign and Aquino’s pivotal phone call here, which led to #MaryJaneLives and raised hopes for her freedom.

The winds changed in 2016, however, when Rodrigo Duterte was elected president and mounted a bloody war on drugs, drawing admiration from his hardliner counterparts in Indonesia. 

The third president (of the Philippines and Indonesia) to see through the Mary Jane case is Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prabowo Subianto, with the latter agreeing to send her home in December 2024, which paved the way for Marcos granting her absolute pardon on Thursday, September 24. 

The irony of ironies is that the two presidents had come from a dark past. Marcos — the son of the dictator who was ousted by a peaceful revolution in 1986 and whose family lived in exile in the US. Prabowo — a dreaded army general under the regime of his father-in-law, Suharto, who was overthrown in 1998 after a three-decade rule.

Asked to comment on Marcos’ pardon, Vice President Sara Duterte, always publicly rooting for the underdog, found herself in a pickle this time and thus showed nonchalance. It’s his prerogative as president, she quipped.

Speaking of the Vice President, her legal team suffered a blow last week when majority senators voted to lower the threshold for conviction in her impeachment trial — basing it on the number of senators who are able to attend the trial, not all who have been elected. 

Den Somera cites the risks in the Marcos government’s “people-centered” 2027 budget.

James Patrick Cruz goes to a town in Bulacan that continues to suffer from lack of water due to the failed PrimeWater business of the Villars.

Gelo Gonzales takes apart a House bill that grants Congress and the executive sweeping powers over online activities. 

Chito dela Vega pays tribute to journalism’s gems: the late Eggie Apostol and Recah Trinidad.

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