MetroVanIndependent.com
May 2015
7
news round-up
Mary Jane Veloso recruiters
surrender to police
A screen grab from ABS-CBN shows Veloso's
recruiter, Maria Kristina Sergio, after she sought
police protection following death threats as a result
of Veloso's case.
Two alleged recruiters of 30-year-old
Mary Jane Veloso, who got a last minute
reprieve from the Indonesian government,
have surrendered to authorities.
Maria Kristina Sergio, also known as
Mary Christine Gulles Pasadilla, turned
herself to the Nueva Ecija Provincial Police
Office in Cabanatuan City, radio DzMM
reported.
Sergio said she gave up to the police
because she feared for her life after she
was tagged as the recruiter who facilitated
Veloso’s entry into Indonesia.
She said Veloso’s relatives and
supporters could harm her if the domestic
helper’s execution pushes through.
The suspect was with her live-in partner
Julius Lacanilao when she went to the
police.
The National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) filed before the Department of
Justice on Monday a complaint for illegal
recruitment, human trafficking and estafa
against Sergio, Lacanilao, and an African
national known only as Ike.
In a recent television interview, Sergio
denied all allegations hurled against her,
saying that she was not part of a drug
syndicate. The Department of Justice has
set the preliminary investigation on Sergio
and Lacanilao on May 8 and 14.
NBI goes after 'Ike' in Veloso drug case
The National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) filed before the Department of
Justice, a complaint for illegal recruitment,
human trafficking and estafa against the
alleged recruiters of Mary Jane Velasco,
whose scheduled execution was stayed by
Indonesian officials at the 11th hour.
She is the only survivor in her batch
of drug convicts as 8 people including
foreigners were executed by firing squad.
Veloso described Ike, who was
introduced to her in Malaysia, as about
6’1” to 6’3”, about 30 and 35 years old,
between 230 to 250 lbs, pot-bellied, and
dark-skinned.
In his referral-letter to Prosecutor
General Claro Arellano, NBI director Virgilio
Mendez recommended the prosecution
of Veloso’s acquaintance, Maria Kristina
Sergio, and her live-in partner Julius
Lacanilao, both residents of Talavera,
Nueva Ecija; and an African national
identified only as Ike.
According to the NBI complaint,
Lacanilao, a family friend of Veloso,
introduced Veloso to Sergio sometime in
April 2010. She offered Veloso a job as
a domestic helper in Malaysia. Veloso
allegedly gave Sergio a tricycle, a cellphone
and P7, 000 in exchange for the overseas
placement.
Veloso and Sergio then went to
Malaysia the same month and met with
Ike, said to be the brother of Sergio’s friend
named only as Prince. Sergio spoke with
Ike over the phone several times while both
were in Malaysia.
A few days later, the two women
prepared for a side trip to Indonesia to
meet another person but Sergio said
she could not make the trip. She asked
Veloso to go there alone. Sergio allegedly
promised Veloso she would get her job
after her trip,
Veloso said on April 24, she and Sergio
met Ike who handed Veloso a traveling bag
to carry her clothes with. Veloso said she
noticed that the bag, although empty, was
heavy. Sergio allayed her concerns saying
it was heavy because the bag was new.
Sergio also gave Veloso a number to
call upon arriving in Indonesia. Veloso,
however, was arrested in the Yogjakarta
airport after 2.6 kilos of heroin were found
in the traveling bag.
Mendez said Veloso was “a victim of
deception and manipulation by her illegal
recruiters.”
“Facts surrounding the circumstances
of her recruitment, transportation and stay
at a foreign country, also shows that she
is a victim of human trafficking owing to
On April 25, 2015, Filipino and Canadian activists and supporters of Mary Jane Veloso returned to the
Indonesian Consulate in downtown Vancouver for a community gathering as part of the international
campaign to save the life of Mary Jane Veloso. This community was a chance to come together to show
Mary Jane Veloso, her family and the international community that there are friends and supporters in
British Columbia who stand united in their efforts to have her life spared. (Migrante BC)
the fact that her vulnerability—[being] in
dire need of a job in order to support her
family—was exploited by her recruiters
through manipulation