Justice for Mary Jane Veloso!

On this International Migrants Day, Anakbayan USA joins the call to demand clemency for Mary Jane Veloso!

For 14 years, Mary Jane has been separated from her family, wrongly convicted on a drug trafficking case which put her on death row in Indonesia.

Mary Jane was just 25 years old when she was recruited by a neighbor for a domestic worker position in Malaysia. Her parents begged her not to go, knowing that the position that overseas filipino workers are put in is often so precarious. In fact, Mary Jane had just returned four months before, after breaking a 2-year contract in Dubai when her employer had attempted to rape her.

Despite her parents’ worry, Mary Jane still left to take the new position. The joblessness and landlessness in Central Luzon made it difficult to provide for her family. Little did she know that the recruiter was working for an international drug syndicate, and that she would take the fall when they sent her with a mysterious luggage lined with heroin to Indonesia, after the job in Malaysia was supposedly filled once she arrived.

In the face of being placed on death row, the people’s movement that rallied the call for a stay of execution and for her return to the Philippines, which was finally completed on Dec 18, 2024. And it is the people again who call for her to be granted full clemency!

In 2019, members of Anakbayan USA met Mary Jane’s family in Central Luzon. We learned more about her story and the stories of other migrants from the countryside. They would rather stay with their families, but with the Philippine economy crushed under neoliberal policies, the low wages and unsteady work opportunities makes it impossible to thrive.

Many Filipinos would rather risk the potential hardships abroad, so that they can put food on the table for their families back home.

Like Mary Jane, many Filipino migrants have shared stories of exploitation, trafficking, abuse, and harassment in their employment overseas. And yet, the Philippine government does little to support them as they experience crisis.

In our experience in the U.S., it has also taken mass action to get the Philippine consulates to release even minimal support for the Roque Family in Southern California or the United 6 in Washington State.

How many other Filipinos like Mary Jane, the Roque family, or the United 6 are experiencing hardship with no governmental support?

As we aim to uplift the struggle of all OFWs and migrants here in the United States and everywhere around the world, we recognize migrants' rights to fair wages and safe working conditions as workers are the pillar of Philippine society.

Marcos Jr calls OFWs the heroes, or bayani, of Philippine society because their remittances keep the Philippine economy afloat. But Filipino migrants should not have to sacrifice their lives and wellbeing in order to do the dirty work of the rich 1%.

To truly honor their legacy we must uplift the struggle of all OFWs and migrants here in the US and across the globe. We must fight alongside them for their basic rights of fair wages and safe working conditions. Even more, we must fight for a true change in Philippine society to address the joblessness and landlessness through national industrialization and genuine land reform.

It is through the solution of National Democracy that Filipinos will be able to make a livelihood in their own homeland and not be separated from their own kababayan.

CLEMENCY FOR Mary Jane!

End labor export policy!

defend migrant workers!

Proteksyon! hindi deportasyon!