Malacañang welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to let detained overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso testify against her alleged illegal recruiters to prove her innocence.
Veloso, who has been in detention in Indonesia since 2010, is willing to testify against her recruiters.
“We are happy because now we could establish that Ms. Veloso was a victim when they accept her testimony,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said.
In a resolution on Friday, the Supreme Court’s Special Third Division denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Public Attorney’s Office, which acts as counsels for Veloso’s alleged recruiters, Ma. Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao.
The Supreme Court also stood by its October 2019 decision allowing Veloso to testify under deposition against her recruiters.
Veloso is on death row in Indonesia and was supposed to be executed by firing squad after she was caught with 2.6 kilograms of heroin at an Indonesian airport in 2010.
She was spared moments before her execution after Philippine authorities notified their Indonesian counterparts that her recruiters surrendered.
Veloso denied she knew she was carrying the drugs, insisting the luggage she brought was handed over to her by her recruiters.
The Filipina said she was tricked by her recruiters into smuggling illegal drugs into Indonesia.
Former President Benigno Aquino III had proposed to Jakarta that Veloso be turned into a witness.