The Court of Appeals has permanently barred death convict Mary Jane Veloso from testifying in the criminal cases against her recruiters from her detention cell in Indonesia.
In a resolution dated May 22, 2017, the CA’s Eleventh Division through Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr. issued a writ of preliminary injunction enjoining the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court, Branch 88, from facilitating the taking of Veloso's deposition or affidavit.
“After a painstaking evaluation of the parties’ arguments, taking into account the pertinent law and jurisprudence, it would be more prudent for this Court to grant the petitioners’ prayer for preliminary injunction in order to maintain the status quo ante which the case is being judiciously studied and to preserve the rights of the parties during the pendency of the instant petition,” the resolution said.
The CA ruled that Baloc, Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija RTC Branch 88 Judge Anarica Castillo-Reyes committed grave abuse of discretion in ordering the deposition of Veloso in Indonesia where she has no jurisdiction. It also pointed out that depositions are not allowed in criminal cases and that court rules require parties to face each other during trial.
“Deposition is not meant as a substitute for the actual testimony of a party or witness in open court. Necessarily, unless restrained or enjoined, the taking of Mary Jane’s deposition upon written interrogatories during the pendency of this case will cause grave and irreparable injury to the petitioners as it will adversely affect their right to have merits of their petition passed upon by this Court,” the appellate court said.
Associate Justices Manuel Barrios and Renato Francisco concurred with the ruling. The CA granted the petition filed by Veloso’s detained recruiters, couple Ma. Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, who are facing qualified human trafficking before the RTC.
Prosecutors wanted to take Veloso’s testimony to bolster the cases against her recruiters, which the government has pursued to save her from death row in Indonesia where she was convicted of drug trafficking.
In a ruling in August last year, the RTC allowed the taking of Veloso’s deposition from the Indonesian jail by the Philippine consulate in the presence of the judge and set the proceedings last April 27.
But the recruiters argued in their petition before the CA that the deposition would violate Section 14(2), Article III of the Bill of Rights in Constitution, which required that they confront Veloso face-to-face.
Sergio and Lacanilao said the previous administration was only constrained to file cases against them in convincing Indonesian authorities to stall Veloso’s execution.
The two also reiterated their denial of the allegation that they were part of an international drug syndicate that preyed on Veloso, claiming that they were arrested and prosecuted “in order to give a public impression, particularly to Indonesia, the fact that the accused were under arrest.”
In her affidavit, which she needs to personally subscribe before the court, Veloso said she was duped by Sergio and Lacanilao into bringing the drug-laden luggage to Indonesia in 2010 where she was arrested upon her arrival at the Yogyakarta airport.
The death sentence on Veloso was temporarily put on halt last April 29, 2015 after then President Aquino appealed her case to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.