A Filipino woman who spent nearly 15 years on death row in Indonesia and was nearly shot dead is home.
Mary Jane Veloso was sentenced to death in 2010 after she was found in possession of 2.6kg (5.7lb) of heroin at an Indonesian airport.
But the 39-year-old mother of two has always maintained that she was tricked into carrying drugs.
He was returned to Manila on Wednesday, after the two governments reached an agreement that allowed him to return home.
“This is a new life for me and I will have a new start in the Philippines,” he told a press conference, adding that he wanted to spend Christmas with his family.
“I have to go home because I have a family there, I have my children waiting for me.”
Although the agreement states that Veloso will return as a prisoner, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos may give him a chance to go free. She is currently being held at the country’s largest women’s prison in Metro Manila.
Veloso was arrested in April 2010 at Yogyakarta airport.
She said she was convinced by the daughter of one of her godmothers to go to Indonesia to start a new career as a maid.
He says that the woman’s male friends gave her new clothes and a new bag, which she did not know had heroin in it.
He had to face the firing squad in 2015, though Benigno Aquino III, then president of the Philippines, got him a last-minute reprieve after the woman he allegedly recruited was arrested and tried for human trafficking. Veloso was named as a prosecution witness in the case.
His repose was so late that several newspapers in the Philippines went to print with front pages and headlines reporting what had happened.
Mrs. Veloso’s case has sparked public sympathy in the Philippines, which does not have the death penalty.
Her circumstances were typical of many in the Philippines, where it is common for women to escape poverty by seeking work abroad as domestic helpers.
“I bring a lot of things like a guitar, books, knitting materials… even this t-shirt I’m wearing was given to me by my friends,” he said as he left the prison heading to the airport.
His transfer comes just days after the remaining five members the notorious “Bali Nine” drug ring returned home after serving nearly 20 years in Indonesian prisons.
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