The Human Rights Committee of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said it is proud of lawyer Edre Olalia‘s efforts in the case of former domestic helper Mary Jane Veloso who had returned to the Philippines.
The IBP committee reposted a before-and-after picture of Olalia with Darren Veloso Candelaria, the youngest son of the Pinay, and congratulated the lawyer for working to fight for Veloso, who was previously on death row.
“We are proud of our first-ever IBP Human Rights Awardee for Luzon, Atty. [Attorney] Edre Olalia,” it said in a repost on Facebook on Wednesday, December 18.
The repost was a photo posted by Olalia, also the chair of the National Union of People’s Lawyers or NUPL, of him with Darren in April 2015 and December 2024.
“IBP Human Rights Awardee Atty. Edre Olalia, Mary Jane Veloso’s lawyer, shares a heartwarming photo with Mary Jane’s youngest son, Darren, who was only 6 years old when Mary Jane got a last-minute reprieve from her death sentence in 2015,” the IBP committee said.
The 2015 photo featured Olalia carrying a young Darren in his arms, while the recent photo featured a teenage Darren carrying his mom’s lawyer for reversal.
According to Olalia, the old photo was taken in Jakarta, Indonesia, when he was “running against time” to save Veloso “from the gallows.”
Meanwhile, the recent photo was taken at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the Philippines on Dec. 18, 2024, when Darren was “waiting excitedly to see his mom come back home.”
Veloso arrived in her home country on Wednesday and was transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong following a deal with the Philippines to respect Indonesia’s sentencing of her and her status as a prisoner.
She was apprehended in Indonesia in April 2010 for allegedly carrying heroin in her suitcase, an accusation she has since denied by saying it was handed to her by her recruiters who had promised her a job in Malaysia.
Veloso was later sentenced to death via firing squad.
The former domestic helper was eventually saved through the efforts of organizations and the Philippine government through the Aquino and Marcos administrations, with late former president Noynoy Aquino breaking protocol to spare her life.
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Indonesia has one of the strictest anti-drug laws in the global community.
