Alleged recruiter’s lawyer wants Mary Jane testimony struck down

The camp of Ma. Cristina Sergio on Monday insisted that the controversial testimony of overseas Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso, obtained in Indonesia by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last March, should be discarded.

During the resumption of the Department of Justice's preliminary investigation on Sergio, her lawyer Howard Areza from the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) invoked the Rules on Criminal Procedure requiring that affidavits should be personally subscribed and sworn to before a prosecutor.

"It is unfair for our client to be compelled to respond to that affidavit considering na transmitted lang ng PDEA to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) iyon," he said.

Areza said the illegal recruitment, human trafficking, and estafa complaints against Sergio and her live-in partner Julius Lacanilao should be "outrightly dismissed" given that they were based heavily on Mary Jane's sworn statement.

Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Azarcon, who handles the preliminary investigation, noted the manifestation of the Sergio camp.

For his part, Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People's Lawyers, who is legally assisting the Veloso family in the case, said Mary Jane's case can become an exception to the rules on subscribing to affidavits.

"It would be impossible magpadala tayo from the DOJ para lang pasumpain si Mary Jane sa Indonesia [that time]. There was a compelling reason kung bakit hindi na nagawa iyon," said Cortez.

In her affidavit, Mary Jane claimed she was tricked by Sergio to sneak 2.6 kilos of heroin into Indonesia from Malaysia, where she was promised a job. She said the bag containing the illegal drugs was provided to her by a certain "Ike" in Malaysia.

Cortez remained confident the complaints against Sergio and Lacanilao would still stand even without Mary Jane's sworn statement, saying her claims can be corroborated by investigators through her parents.

"It's a fact na si Mary Jane ay nasa Indonesia, nakakulong. It is a matter of judicial notice. You don't have to prove it. Sa batas, kahit kamag-anak puwedeng mag-file ng complaint," said the NUPL lawyer.

Also on Monday, Mary Jane's husband Michael Candelaria submitted and subscribed to his affidavit, in which he narrated how Sergio convinced his wife to travel to Malaysia for a supposed job.

Sergio's camp last week insisted that Candelaria's affidavit should not be admitted because he has not yet sworn to its truth.

Mary Jane was sentenced to death  by firing squad in Indonesia. Her scheduled execution two weeks ago was postponed at the last minute, after the Indonesian government allowed her to testify against criminal complaints against her recruiters in the Philippines. —KBK, GMA News

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