SC allows Veloso deposition abroad

The Supreme Court(SC) has allowed the taking of the testimony of convicted drug trafficker Mary Jane Veloso against her recruiters by way of deposition in Indonesia.

The High Court’s Third Division, during a hearing last Wednesday and through the ponencia of Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, granted the petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court and reversed and set aside the 13 December decision of the Court of Appeals that overturned the 16 August 2016 Resolution of the Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 88.

The RTC granted motion of the prosecution to take the deposition by written interrogatories of Veloso in Indonesia.

The Court reinstated and affirmed with modification the ruling of the RTC and ordered that the deposition of Veloso be taken before the Philippine Consular Office and officials in Indonesia pursuant to the Rules of Court and principles of jurisdiction.

It noted and referred to the SC Committee on Revision of the Rules for its appropriate action the recommendation by the Office of the Solicitor General for the Court to promulgate a set of rules for the guidance of the Bench and the Bar in transnational cases that may arise in the future, where a prosecution’s vital witness in a criminal proceeding is unavailable for reasons other than those listed in Section 15, Rule 119 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure vis-à-vis the enforcement of the accused’s constitutional right to confront witnesses face-to-face.

The Court said that to disallow the written interrogatories will curtail Mary Jane’s right to due process.