Laywer of Mary Jane Veloso prays SC allows her to testify vs recruiters

MANILA, Philippines—The lawyer of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso, who is still on death row in Indonesia, expressed hope the Philippine Supreme Court would allow her to testify against her recruiters to bolster the argument that she was a victim of trafficking and not a drug dealer.

Edre Olalia, of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), said on Thursday, Sept. 12, that as the presentation of witnesses at the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court (RTC) nears its end, he “fervently” hoped that the Philippine Supreme Court would allow Veloso to testify at the RTC against her recruiters.

Olalia said the last hearing for the illegal recruitment and human trafficking cases filed against Veloso’s recruiter had been set on Sept. 26, which meant there was still time for Veloso to become a witness.

Olalia said a written deposition could take the place of Veloso’s physical presence at the witness stand and is “the only mode allowed or permitted by Indonesian authorities”.

Veloso had been arrested in Indonesia after her luggage was found carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in 2010. She had been accused of being a courier for a drug syndicate but she insisted that she did not know what the luggage contained because it was just given to her by her recruiters.

She was to be executed by firing squad in 2015 after her second appeal had been junked but a stay of execution was granted after Philippine authorities informed their Indonesian counterparts that Veloso’s recruiters had surrendered and were in the custody of Philippine law enforcers.

READ: Mary Jane Veloso recruiters surrender to police

READ: Filipina maid’s family prays for divine, gov’t intervention

READ: Veloso execution stopped

Veloso’s parents had petitioned the Supreme Court to overrule the Court of Appeals’ decision stopping Veloso from using a deposition to testify in the illegal recruitment and trafficking case against her recruiters. The case is still pending./TSB