Veloso’s family hits her recruiters for covering up their liability
THE FAMILY of convicted drug mule Mary Jane Veloso, whose execution in Indonesia was temporarily stayed last month, submitted yesterday their replies to the allegations of Veloso’s alleged recruiters who had earlier denied promising her a job in Malaysia in return for fees.
At the preliminary investiga- tion hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Veloso’s father Cesar, mother Celia and sister Maritess said the counter-affidavits of Ma. Christina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao affirmed and validated Veloso’s innocence as she had no knowledge, consent or intention to carry, transport or import, much less use, sell or buy illegal drugs to Indonesia.
However, the Veloso family said the rest of Sergio and Lacanilao’s statements in their counter-affidavits were selfserving, including their claim that Veloso on her own dealt with the supposed members of an international drug ring who duped her to become a drug mule.
“The other details of the circumstances of the whole incident before, during and after [Veloso’s arrest as related by the respondents served] to cover up for their own complicity and liability,” Veloso’s counsel Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers told reporters.
“Sergio and Lacanilao want the prosecutor to believe that Mary Jane was desperate to go abroad when the truth is that Mary Jane was merely enticed by Sergio’s offer of a job with a P25,000 salary,” the complainants said.
They said this was the reason why Veloso and her husband gave their tricycle, a cell phone and P6,000 cash borrowed from her parents to Sergio.
The complainants pointed out that the mere convincing by Sergio and Lacanilao of Veloso to go abroad on the promise of a nonexistent job there falls under the definition of human trafficking. The couple took advantage of her poverty and vul- nerability to dupe her into becoming an unwitting drug mule, they said.
At the hearing, the Public Attorney’s Office, which is defending Sergio and Lacanilao, reiterated their manifestation that Veloso’s affidavit be rejected for being inadmissible as these were not personally sworn before state prosecutor Susan Azarcon, who is handling the preliminary investigation.