VIDEO | DOJ Sees Hand of Int’l Drug Ring in Overseas Trips of Veloso Recruiter
Stack of documents at the NBI for the 11 counts of illegal recruitment, estafa and human trafficking filed against Mary Jane Veloso’s recruiter Maria Cristina Sergio. TV5 SCREENSHOT
MANILA – The Department of Justice said Wednesday it saw a pattern in Maria Cristina Sergio’s frequent foreign trips, before she allegedly set up Mary Jane Veloso, that is consistent with the activities of an international drug ring operative.
According to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Sergio appeared to have been a drug mule herself before she was tapped to recruit innocent jobseekers to set up as couriers. This is what happened to Mary Jane Veloso, who remains on Indonesia’s death row, her execution suspended pending the Philippine government’s success in unraveling the syndicate that brought her to Yogyakarta with luggage concealing heroin in 2010.
Sergio, now detained at the NBI custodial center with her live-in partner and co-accused Julius Lacanilao, faces 11 charges of illegal recruitment, estafa and human trafficking – one for Veloso, and the 10 others for new complainants who came forward on learning that Sergio was in custody.
The state prosecutor is to determine by Thursday whether or not there is probable cause to proceed with the charges against the duo, who refused to submit counter-affidavits.
Six of the new complainants went to the DOJ on Wednesday to swear to their affidavits. One of them, called “May” (not her real name), is only 19 years old, but said Sergio promised her a job when she was 16 years old, and insisted she could make it look like the girl is of age when she is deployed.
The NBI learned Sergio had been able to send out one girl to Bahrain as late as April, but the girl’s family has not heard from the job-seeker since she flew there and are now worried.
Sergio insisted on her innocence when interviewed. “I’m not guilty…only God knows. I cannot please everybody to believe me or whatever, who I am. Sila mismo ang mag-search sa akin, kung ano ang tunay na pagkatao ko [They can search my background to determine the kind of person I am].”
She insisted neither she nor Lacanilao knew the complainants who turned up at the NBI, and claimed she travelled a lot because “I am a real property consultant…selling real properties worldwide.”
The NBI earlier said its investigation into her travels showed she went abroad nine times in three years, including six trips to Malaysia. This included the April 21, 2010 trip she took to Malaysia that coincided with the trip of Veloso, who had alleged that when they reached Malaysia, Sergio told her that her supposed employer had hired someone else. Sergio then bought her new clothes, and had an African friend called “Ike” deliver a brand-new traveling bag for Veloso to put her new clothes in when she flies to Indonesia, where Sergio promised her another job as domestic helper. The bag turned up with 2 kilos of heroin concealed in its lining.
The NBI found a similar case, of one Judy Tosi, who was allegedly promised a job as domestic helper in Thailand, and flew with Sergio to Singapore and then to Thailand in late 2010, months after Veloso had been busted, convicted and sentenced to death for drug smuggling in Indonesia. When they arrived in Thailand, Sergio allegedly told Tosi she would first have to carry out an errand for her recruiter–deliver luggage to her “friend” in Hong Kong. On arrival in HK, the luggage Tosi was made to bring turned up heroin concealed also in its lining.
All the allegations against her are, Sergio stressed, mere “hearsay.”