By Moira Encina
Eagle News Service
The Court of Appeals has denied the Office of the Solicitor General’s appeal for a Nueva Ecija judge to observe the deposition of Mary Jane Veloso–a death row inmate in Indonesia–against her alleged illegal recruiters who are detained in Nueva Ecija.
In junking the OSG’s motion for reconsideration of the former eleventh division’s December 13, 2017 decision, the division reiterated that the right of the accused, in this case Maria Cristina Sergio and her live-in partner Julius Lacanilao, to “‘meet the witnesses face to face’ is a fundamental right guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution, specifically Article III, Section 14 (2).”
“Cororarily (sic), the right of the accused to confront and cross-examine the witness against him at the trial is guaranteed under Section 1 (f) Rule 115 of the Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure..,” it said.
The division also said that the OSG’s contention that the taking of such a deposition “will be similar to the” allowable practice “in other jurisdictions like in the cases of the United States vs Salim, and of Ohio vs. Roberts” deserves “scant consideration.”
According to the division, “the cases mentioned by the OSG could not be applied in our jurisdiction for the simple reason that, as stated by the OSG, the ‘taking (of the) deposition outside the United States without the defendant’s presence’ is explicitly allowed under Section 15 (c)(3) of the US Federal Rules of Procedure.”
“In our jurisdiction, in criminal cases, there is no law or rules which expressly allow the taking of deposition upon written interrogatories,” the division said.
The division said “only the conditional examination in the presence of the accused and not a deposition upon written interrogatories of prosecution witnesses is allowed before the court where the case is pending,” under Section 15, Rule 119 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure.
While the taking of deposition “upon written interrogatories pending action” in civil cases was allowed under Rule 23 of the 1997 Rules on Civil Procedure, the division said this could not apply to criminal cases as it would “render nugatory the constitutional right of the accused to ‘meet the witnesses face to face’ and the statutory right of the accused to ‘confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him at the trial.'”
“Likewise, the OSG’s contention that the assailed decision ‘undermines the State’s treaty obligations under the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty and unjustly deprived the People of its substantial right to present its case’ is untenable,” the division added.
Other possibilities
In any case, the division said it “did not enjoin the respondent judge from proceeding with the reception of evidence” in the case.
Apart from Veloso, the division noted that based on the partial pre-trial order dated March 9, 2016, there were other witnesses for the prosecution, such as Michael Castillo Candelaria, Marites Veloso-Laurente, Celia Veloso, Cesar Veloso, Atty. Basset Sarip, Lucia Villamor or anyone who executed the joint affidavit, among others, who may establish the “criminal liability” of the accused.
It noted “circumstantial evidence supported by documentary evidence” may also establish the same.
“Finally, assuming arguendo that the testimony of Mary Jane Veloso is absolutely necessary or indispensable to prove the guilt of the petitioners in the consolidated criminal cases, under the circumstances obtaining, through proper diplomatic channel, the government should convince Indonesia to allow Mary Jane Veloso to testify in Philippine courts,” the division said.
It said both the Philippines and Indonesia, after all, were signatories to the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
Under Article 15 of the treaty, the division said the Philippine government could request the consent of Indonesia to “temporarily transfer the custody of Mary Jane Veloso to the Philippine government to allow her for a limited period to testify in the Philippine Courts with the express undertaking to return immediately to Indonesia after the termination of her testimony in court.”
Veloso, who was convicted for carrying a suitcase containing 2.2 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia, was given the death sentence in October 2010.
The sentence against Veloso, who has denied knowing there were drugs inside the suitcase, was supposed to be carried out in April 2015, but then-President Benigno Aquino III obtained a last-minute reprieve for her.
Then-Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Indonesia granted the reprieve “to allow Mary Jane to give testimony in connection with the complaint filed against her recruiters.”