The House committee on overseas workers affairs on Wednesday recommended the recall of Consul General Robert Manalo over his handling of Mary Jane Veloso’s case.
Manalo is the consul general at the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta.
During a committee hearing, Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan raised a motion to recall Manalo over “serious complaints” of Mary Jane Veloso’s family and her private lawyers.
READ: House to probe case of Mary Jane Veloso
The committee seconded Ilagan’s motion and said that they would write to Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to investigate Manalo.
Celia Veloso, mother of Mary Jane, appeared before the house panel and narrated the lapses of Manalo in handling her daughter’s case.
Manalo, who also attended the hearing, maintained that he did everything to help Mary Jane.
“Wala po ako pagkukulang kay Mary Jane. Natulungan ko po siya sa lahat ng aking makakaya (I have no shortcomings to Mary Jane. I helped her to the best of my abilities),” Manalo told the committee.
He, however, apologized to Veloso’s family and to his private lawyers if he had actions that hurt them.
“Buong puso po akong nagpapumanhin (I am wholeheartedly apologizing). I am very sorry po,” he said.
Lawyer Edre Olalia, secretary general of National Union of Lawyers of the Philippines (NUPL) who also serves as Veloso’s lawyer, however, said they would file an administrative case against Manalo.
“We are just finalizing affidavits of family, priests, nuns, Migrante, NUPL & Monique Wilson,” Olalia said in a text message to INQUIRER.net
Veloso was arrested in 2010 at the Yogyakarta airport in Indonesia after 2.6 kilograms of heroin were found inside her suitcase.
Veloso was sentenced to death by the Indonesian court but was given a last-minute reprieve after the Philippine government appealed to stop her execution amid the arret of her illegal recruiters. Nestor Corrales/IDL
READ: Veloso execution stopped
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