By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
The Philippines’ department of justice has indicted the alleged recruiters of a convicted Filipina drug smuggler who won a last-minute reprieve from execution in Indonesia.
The Philippine government has said it persuaded Indonesia to spare Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso from executions in April on the grounds that it had new information and would nail the syndicate that had allegedly used her as a mule.
ABS-CBN News reported Thursday that probable cause had been found to try Maria Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao for illegal recruitment and estafa, as well as a charge of qualified trafficking alongside a cohort identified as “Ike.”
“The exploitative purposes of using complainant Veloso in transporting illegal drugs resulted to the incarceration of complainant... [w]orse, complainant... will eventually suffer the penalty of death,” said a resolution filed by Assistant State Prosecutor Susan Azarcon.
The Department cited Lacanilao’s admission that he had introduced Veloso to Sergio, who then promised the single mother of two employment as a domestic helper in Malaysia.
Veloso had filed a criminal complaint in April through the National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Human Trafficking Division.
“The detailed narration of complainant Veloso that it was respondent Sergio who promised her a domestic helper job in Malaysia with a monthly salary of P25,000 proves convincingly that respondents committed the imputed offense,” the resolution said.
The Department said that illegal recruitment occurs when a party lacking a valid license or authority to recruit under the country's Labor Code engages in such activity, while estafa is committed “by any person who shall defraud another by false pretenses or fraudulent acts.”
The resolution said the accused had misrepresented how Sergio had the capacity to deploy Veloso as a domestic helper to Malaysia in exchange for a fee of P20,000 (around $440), ABS-CBN cited the resolution as saying.
“Complainant relied on the representation of respondents and was induced to part with her money in the amount of P7,000,” it said.
Meanwhile, the qualified trafficking charge applies in cases where victims are "recruited, transported, or received.. using exploitation as a tool, at the minimum," according to the department.
Three other complainants have provided information against Sergio and Lacanilao, who are set to be arraigned July 21.
Veloso, who was arrested with 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport in 2010, was spared from Indonesia’s last round of executions that saw eight others put to death April 29.
