MANILA, Philippines — Detained overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso will now have a better chance to attain justice after the Supreme Court allowed her to testify against her job recruiters through a deposition from her detention cell in Indonesia where she was convicted and is facing a death sentence for drug-related charges.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said he is pleased upon learning that the SC denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Public Attorneys’ Office on behalf of recuiters Ma. Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao. Both are facing human trafficking charges before a regional trial court in Nueva Ecija.
Veloso was nabbed in 2010 upon her arrival at Yogyakarta Airport in Indonesia for smuggling a drug-laden luggage.
She was eventually sentenced to death by firing squad. But the sentence was temporarily placed on hold on April 29, 2015 after then president Benigno Aquino III appealed to Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the life of Veloso.
Court records showed that Veloso was allowed by Judge Anarica Castillo-Reyes of the Nueva Ecija regional trial court to issue a deposition from her cell in Wirongan penitentiary.
Lacanilao and Sergio countered the RTC’s move, prompting the matter to be brought to the Court of Appeals and eventually, the High Tribunal.
Veloso, who is represented by the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), fought hard to counter efforts to prevent her from testifying against her recruiters until the SC decided last Friday to uphold the RTC ruling that paves the way for her deposition.