A Filipino lawyer slammed the Philippine appellate court’s order to stop the deposition of Filipino overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso, who was convicted for smuggling heroine to Indonesia.
The legal blow would further delay proceedings in the Philippines filed by the Veloso family against her illegal recruiters.
The Philippine legal team is supposed to use as proof the conviction of Veloso’s recruiters, to show that Veloso is a victim of trafficking. Trafficking victims are supposedly exempt from prosecution in relation to their role in the over-all trafficking scheme.
“It is with utter disappointment and unfathomable frustration to learn that the Philippine Court of Appeals, upon the instance of the recruiter’s defense, just recently issued an order restraining the long overdue deposition of convicted migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso in Indonesia,” said lawyer Edre Olalia, counsel for the Veloso family.
Veloso’s account of what happened is crucial in the case against the couple that offered her an overseas job. She claims to have been duped into bringing a luggage that had 5.6 kilograms of heroine underneath its linings. She allegedly received the luggage as a gift from her recruiter, when she was made to travel in Indonesia.
“We shall not stop exhausting all fair legal means in combination with decisive political action to ensure that she is allowed to speak the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth,” said Olalia.
“A victim of injustice several times over, distressed migrant workers like Mary Jane expect from her compatriots not only to uphold fairness, reason & justice but also to demonstrate empathy and conscience at the very least,” he added.
