Court rejects complainant's move to drop case vs Veloso recruiters

MANILA, Philippines - A Nueva Ecija court on Thursday junked the affidavit of desistance of one of the complainants against the alleged illegal recruiters of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipino worker now sitting death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

 

Lawyer Edre Olalia,  one of Veloso's legal counsels, said the Regional Trial Court in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija branch 37 rejected the affidavit of desistance of Ana Marie Gonzales, one of the complainants against Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.

 

Sergio and Lacanilao were allegedly the ones who recruited Veloso and the other victims for jobs abroad. 

 

The court ruled that the affidavit of desistance executed by Gonzales, who was assisted by the accused's lawyers from the Public Attorneys Office, was "improper."

 

"Based on Gonzales' full account of the context and circumstances... it was discovered once again today that the accused's lawyers appear to be quite overzealous ad even unorthodox in their consuming desire to get their clients off the hook," Olalia said. 

 

Olalia said that Gonzales is expected to attend the pre-trial of the large scale illegal recruitment case on September 18.