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Veloso seeks SC approval to testify vs illegal recruiters

An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) on Sunday, September 2, who is currently on death row in Indonesia sought the approval of the Supreme Court (SC) to allow her to testify against her illegal recruiters for her illegal drug trafficking case.

A petition filed by the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) on Veloso’s behalf seeks to reverse the Court of Appeals (CA) earlier decision to not allow Veloso to testify against her illegal recruiters Ma. Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao who are also detained in the Philippines.

Veloso’s parents were also present in the submission of the plea.

The plea explains that Veloso could testify against her illegal recruiters through a deposition, a written testimony from the detained OFW from her cell.

“The assailed Court of Appeals decision and resolution, which are the subject of the main petition filed by the People before this Honorable Court denying Mary Jane’s plea to be allowed to testify through deposition is – literally and without an iota of exaggeration a matter of life and death,” the NUPL plea read.

“To bar Mary Jane from testifying will prevent the prosecution from fully presenting their case by means of crucial material evidence, thereby denying the victim of her opportunity to finally be heard. This strikes at the very core of the due process guarantee of the Constitution and puts premium on technicality at the expense of the right of the State to prosecute criminal wrongdoing,” NUPL added.

Earlier, CA said that Sergio and Lacanilao have the right to face their accuser, Veloso, who cannot make it to court hearings due to her detention.

Both Segio and Lacanilao are also detained in the Philippines for human trafficking which led Veloso to be arrested in Indonesia. Veloso was apprehended for unknowingly bringing over two kilograms of heroin inside her luggage in 2010. In her defense, Veloso said she did not know there were illegal drugs in her luggage and accused her recruiters of duping her.

Veloso’s death sentence was put on hold in April 2015 after then president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s plea to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

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