Mary Jane Veloso (left) is comforted by an Indonesian counselor at a court in Indonesia while waiting for a hearing of judicial review on March 3, 2015. Photo by Suryo Wibowo, AFP

MANILA- The Court of Appeals (CA) has stood pat on its earlier ruling prohibiting the deposition or sworn out-of-court testimony of Mary Jane Veloso in Indonesia in connection with the criminal case here in the Philippines against her alleged illegal recruiters.

In an 8-page resolution, dated June 5, 2018, penned by Associate Justice Ramon Bato, Jr., the high court’s Former 11th Division junked the motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.

The appellate court stressed it cannot grant government’s plea because accused Ma. Cristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao have the “fundamental right” to face their accusers in order “to confront and cross-examine opposing witnesses.”

"By insisting that we should reconsider our decision dated 13 December 2017 and allow the taking of the testimony of Mary Jane Veloso by deposition upon written interrogatories in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in effect, the OSG would want us to disregard Section 14 (2), Article III of the 1987 Constitution," the CA said.

The deposition was sought to form part of the prosecution’s evidence in the qualified trafficking in persons and estafa case against Sergio and Lacanilao before a Nueva Ecija trial court.

Veloso was sentenced to death in October 2010 in Indonesia for bringing in 2.6 kilograms of heroin at Yogyakarta airport. She was given reprieve after the Philippine government made representations with the Indonesian government due to the importance of her testimony in the criminal case.

The appellate court ruling is a victory for the Public Attorney’s Office who is lawyering for Sergio and Lacanilao.