Mary Jane Veloso to arrive in the Philippines on December 18

MANILA, Philippines — Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who has been on death row in Indonesia for 14 years, will fly home to the Philippines early Wednesday morning, December 18, according to Indonesian authorities.

In a press conference on Monday, December 16, Indonesia's ministry for law and human rights announced that Veloso will board her flight to the Philippines at Jakarta's main airport, the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, late Tuesday night.

Veloso will arrive in Manila past midnight on Wednesday.

The day before, Veloso was moved from a prison in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, to another facility in Jakarta, located over 418 kilometers away, in preparation for her flight back to the Philippines.

Philstar.com has reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs for comment.

RELATED: Philippines, Indonesia agree on repatriation of Mary Jane Veloso on death row

The midnight flight bringing Veloso home to Manila will close a dark chapter that began in 2010 when she left the Philippines as a hopeful migrant worker. The mother of two was arrested that year for carrying a suitcase containing 2.6 kilograms of heroin at an airport in Yogyakarta. She was convicted and then sentenced to death.

Veloso narrowly avoided execution by firing squad in 2015 when she received a last-minute reprieve after being named as a prosecution witness in a human trafficking case against her alleged recruiter.

She and her lawyers have maintained her innocence and, along with human rights groups, have argued that she was a victim of an international drug syndicate who used her to transport drugs. 

Veloso's legal team, the National Union of People's Lawyers, has welcomed news of her impending return. In a statement on Monday, the group said their team and Veloso's family are "waiting with excitement and anticipation of seeing and hugging as well as conferring with her in person right here in our homeland when she sets foot here."

"We expect the Philippine government in this regard to give immediate, full and unhindered access to her family and accord her right to privately confer with her Philippine lawyers fortwith," the group said. "The day of her homecoming was not in the horizon before but now we see it breaking at dawn."

Under the transfer agreement signed between the Philippines and Indonesia last week, Veloso will continue to serve her sentence in the Philippines following Philippine laws and regulations. The Philippines does not allow for capital punishment.

The Indonesian government did not impose any conditions for Veloso's imprisonment. According to the Department of Justice, Jakarta had relinquished both physical and legal custody of Veloso to Manila.

RELATED: Indonesia eyes transfer of Mary Jane Veloso to the Philippines 

This means the Philippine government is free to grant Veloso executive clemency — a decision that the justice department says rests exclusively with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.