Mary Jane Veloso’s recruiters ordered to comment on questions for her testimony


By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
A Nueva Ecija court has ordered the alleged recruiters of Filipina death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso to comment on the prosecution's proposed questions for the taking of her testimony in Indonesia.
The Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court Branch 88 gave Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao five days from receipt of an October 16 order to file their comment on the questions for direct examination.
The trial court issued the order days after the Supreme Court (SC) decided to allow the taking of Veloso's testimony by way of deposition through written interrogatories, reinstating the same judge's older ruling that was reversed by the Court of Appeals in 2017.
After receiving the High Court's ruling on October 15, the lower court said the prosecution had already submitted proposed questions for Veloso's direct examination and that Sergio and Lacanilao's failure to comment within the 5-day period will be considered a non-objection.
They face charges for human trafficking, illegal recruitment and estafa.
But in an urgent motion filed Tuesday, the defendants urged the Nueva Ecija court to defer any further action on the order for comments because the SC decision is not yet final.
They said the trial court ordered them to comment on the proposed questions on its own, without any "triggering action" from the prosecution -- an act they called "premature, if not inordinate."
Their lawyers said they are not ready to submit a comment as they should still be given "full opportunity" to avail of remedies under the Rules of Court, such as filing a motion for reconsideration before the SC.
Veloso was sentenced to execution by firing squad after she was convicted of drug trafficking for being caught with 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her luggage at Yogyakarta airport in 2010.
The Filipina said she was tricked by her recruiters into smuggling illegal drugs into Indonesia.
She was spared from execution in 2015, after Sergio surrendered to authorities. Then-President Benigno Aquino III had proposed to the Indonesian government that Veloso be turned into a witness.
The SC decision allowing her to testify came weeks before what would have been the final opportunity for the government and for Veloso's lawyers to present her as a witness.
But the October 28 hearing may now be held to address pending issues and prepare for the deposition, said Edre Olalia, the Veloso family's lawyer in this case.
He said the taking of Veloso's testimony would still have to be arranged. — RSJ, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more