SC leaves gov’t to handle Mary Jane Veloso deposition
Filipino domestic helper Mary Jane Veloso (Photo courtesy of the Veloso family)
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court declined to act on the petition of the solicitor general seeking new guidelines in taking the deposition of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for transporting heroin.
The tribunal’s 2019 ruling allowed Veloso to give her testimony through written communications against her job recruiters. But the solicitor general said Indonesian authorities changed the conditions, such as moving the venue of the deposition.
The court said: “It remains entirely within the prerogative of the executive department to handle matters and fill in the details of foreign policy and negotiations … the executive department need not obtain the assent of the judiciary in accepting, rejecting or modifying the conditions set by Indonesia.”
—MARLON RAMOS
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