Let Veloso tell her story, CA asked

The Court of Appeals (CA) should allow a Nueva Ecija judge to take the deposition of overseas worker Mary Jane Veloso, who is on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, according to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

In a 45-page motion filed on Jan. 16 and released yesterday, the OSG asked the CA’s former 11th division to reconsider its Dec. 13, 2017 decision prohibiting Branch 88 Judge Anarica Castillo-Reyes from taking the testimony of Veloso.

“The dictates of justice in this case mandate that Mary Jane Veloso, wrongfully convicted and sentenced to suffer the penalty of death, be allowed to tell her story while the constitutional rights of petitioners Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao are guaranteed,” Solicitor General Jose Calida’s peti- tion stated.

Sergio and Lacanilao recruited Veloso and allegedly used her as a drug mule.

Taking Veloso’s testimony will not violate Sergio and Lacanilao’s constitutional rights, the OSG said.

The OSG said the apellate court “grossly ignored” Veloso’s “extraordinary circumstance and rendered inutile the right of the state to prosecute criminal actions as well as other provisions of the law.

While Veloso is “neither too sick nor infirm” to appear at the trial, the OSG said the CA should have taken into consideration that she might not be able to return to the Philippines because she has been sentenced to suffer the penalty of death.

The OSG also noted that certain limitations were imposed by the Indonesian government even though it granted a stay in Veloso’s execution.