Recruiters"confession big devt for Veoso case

MANILA;
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday
said the admission of Mary Jane Veloso 's
recruiters  that they worked for an international
drug ring provided hope  for the grant of clemency
to the  maid now sitting on death row in  Indonesia

De Lima  said she  yet to see the Philippine National
Police  report that supposedly contained  the confession
of  Maria Kristina Sergio and  her live-in partner,
a "big development "as it established that the
drug syndicate existed


The  public  Attorney's  Office on  Friday
denied  that Sergio and Lacanilao  had  admitted
to  working for the drug syndicate and said  it
challenge the resolution of the Department of
 Justice(DOJ)

The DOJ filed charges of  illegal recruitment
in the Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court yesterday
against Sergio and  Lacanilao based on it's resolution
that found probable cause to put them on trial
following inquest proceeding on last Tuesday,

Veloso 's family has brought  separate charges
of human trafficking and  fraud  against Sergio
and Lacanilao in  the DOJ .The  confession of
Sergio and  Lacanilao  that they worked for
the  drug ring would validate  Veloso 's defence in
Indonesia thet she was a victim of  an international
drug syndicate.

DeLima  told  reporters that if Veloso 's defence
is validated then "there's" a big chance of  talk
with Indonesia authorities  for a grant of clemeny
to the  maid ,who was convicted of  drug trafficking
and  sentenced to death by firing squad in 2010.

Veloso was about to be  shot on the Indonesia
island  prison of  Nuskambangan early on April
29 when President Joko Widodo  stayed her
 execution after the  Philippine  government
 offered to make  her a witness against the drug
syndicate in the prosecution of Sergio and Lacanilao.


In the resolution ,the  DOJ Task  Force on Anti
-Trafficking in Person cite "information from
both respondents themseves relating to their
complicity and on participation with an international
drug syndicate ,"which led to Veloso 's arrest in
 Indonesia after authorities  at Yogyakarata airport
found 2.6 kilo of heroin in her suitcase.

The resolution cite the modus-operandi and
details on Sergio 's and Lacanilao 's foreign contacts
DAILY EXPRESS.