MALACAÑANG on Saturday lauded the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the former overseas Filipino worker (OFW) and death row convict Mary Jane Veloso to testify remotely against her illegal recruiters.
That testimony is crucial because Indonesian authorities, in giving her a last-minute reprieve before her scheduled execution for drug smuggling in 2016, had said that a Philippine trial where Veloso can credibly prove she was a victim, and not a knowing accomplice of her recruiters — who set her up to be a drug mule — is necessary to make the stay of execution permanent.
Her recruiters had strongly opposed allowing her to testify from an Indonesian jail, saying it would violate their right to confront their accuser.
“We are happy [with the decision] since at last we will see how Ms. Veloso became a victim if her testimony will be accepted [by the court],” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online briefing on Saturday.
On Friday, the SC finally allowed Veloso to testify against her recruiters, Segio and Julius Lacanilao, who were found guilty of large-scale illegal recruitment last January.
Migrante International also welcomed the decision of the High Court, which it said will boost the chances of Veloso to be finally freed.
It also said the ruling will allow the Philippine and Indonesian authorities “to grasp the extent of how big international drug and human traffickers” and serve as a “precedent for overseas Filipinos who in troublesome circumstances may later find themselves victims of these international criminal rings.”
“Migrante International is very grateful to all of Mary Jane’s supporters, to the Veloso family’s lawyers and all our allies both in the Philippines and abroad for their untiring efforts in support of the Veloso family’s search for justice all throughout this process,” Migrante International said in a statement.
Veloso is currently detained in Indonesia after being arrested at the Yogyakarta airport in 2010. This, after 2.6 kilograms of heroin were found in her luggage.
She claimed she was duped by her Philippine-based recruiter to carry the luggage, apparently on behalf of a West African international syndicate. Veloso said she had been promised a job in Malaysia, but was instructed to first proceed to Indonesia.
The luggage contained clothes and was supposed to be given to a friend of her recruiter, but on closer inspection, was found to have a secret, specially sewn-in compartment that concealed the heroin packs.
In 2015, Veloso was given a death sentence by an Indonesian court because of the incident, but it was indefinitely postponed upon the appeal of the Philippine government.
Image credits: Bernard Testa
2 comments
The lady has suffered enough! Let her live free she is and was innocent! She was a victim of poverty and was duped by promises of employment. She desperatly wanted a better life for herself and her children. She thought this was an answer to her prayers but it turned out to be a horrible outcome. Let this lady go! She does not deserve this horrible injustice!!!!~