DOJ reso on case filed by Veloso vs recruiters out in a week

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) is set to release within the week the resolution on the criminal case filed by Mary Jane Veloso against her recruiters who allegedly used her as drug mule to transport illegal drugs to Indonesia.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, head of the DOJ’s National Prosecution Service, said Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Azarcon has already submitted results of her investigation on the illegal recruitment, human trafficking and swindling case filed against Ma. Cristina Sergio and live-in partner Julius Lacanilao.

“We are now reviewing the resolution, and we will release it probably within this week,” he said.

Migrante International has earlier expressed apprehension that Veloso’s execution might push through after the end of Ramadan.

Both Sergio and Lacanilao denied the allegations in the complaint.

Sergio also said Veloso is innocent of the drug charges because she only fell prey to the men she met in Malaysia who promised to give her a job.

Mary Jane’s lawyer Edre Olalia believed that Sergio’s affidavit could be used as evidence to prove Veloso’s innocence and save her from death row through clemency.

Meanwhile, the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court Branch 37 denied the motion to quash filed by Sergio and Lacanilao in an attempt to dismiss the complaint filed against them by their alleged three other victims – Lorna Valino, Ana Maries Gonzales and Jenalyn Paraiso.

The court has set their arraignment on large-scale illegal recruitment on July 21.