CA Junks Plea of Veloso Recruiters to Stop Trial
Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 01/06/16 10:51 PM
MANILA – The trial of Mary Jane Veloso’s alleged illegal recruiters, Ma. Kristina Sergio and Julius Lacanilao, for the offense of large-scale illegal recruitment involving three other alleged victims, will proceed.
This, after the Court of Appeals (CA) junked their plea to halt the proceedings before a Nueva Ecija trial court over the case filed by alleged victims Lorna Valino, Ana Marie Gonzales and Jenalyn Paraiso.
The appellate court, through its 17th Division, denied Sergio and Lacanilao’s plea for temporary restraining order (TRO).
“There is no clear showing that petitioners (Sergio, Lacanilao) have sufficiently alleged a clear and unmistakable right and that there is an extremely urgent and paramount necessity for the issuance of a TRO. Thus, the prayer for the issuance is denied,” the CA resolution read.
The CA, meantime, gave the Baloc, Nueva Ecija RTC, Department of Justice (DOJ), and the complainants against Sergio and Lacanilao 10 days to file their comment on the petition.
Sergio and Lacanilao also face separate criminal charges before the trial court in connection with Veloso’s case.
Veloso was arrested in 2010 for smuggling 2.6 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia. She was sentenced to death for drug trafficking but was spared from the firing squad in April last year.