The duo are the alleged recruiters of Mary Jane Veloso who faces death in Indonesia on a drug conviction.
This as RTC Branch 37 presiding Judge Nelson Tribiana ordered on Monday the resetting of the hearing on the Urgent Omnibus Motion to Quash Information and Warrant of Arrest that was filed by Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta, PAO chief.
Court records showed that lawyer Efren Clint Mallare Jr. appeared as lone public prosecutor when the hearing on the case, docketed as Criminal Case no. SD (15)-3666 was called for hearing Monday while Acosta came with two other lawyers namely Revelyn Ramos-Dacpano and Howard Areza for the couple’s defense.
Sergio and Lacanilao who are under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila did not show up though. Acosta informed the court about the motion she has filed which seeks “for the quashal of the information and warrant of arrest ad cautelam.”
Mallare, however, said that a state prosecutor from the DOJ “shall argue this case.”
He requested for seven days within which to file their comment on the motion which the court has granted, the records showed.
Acosta then sought three days from receipt of the DOJ’s comment to file their reply after which three days are also given to the former for its rejoinder.
In its motion received by the RTC Branch 31 on May 21, the PAO argued that the case against Sergio and Lacanilao and warrant of arrest against them should be quashed on two grounds: the facts charged do not constitute an offense and the court trying the case has no jurisdiction over the person of the accused.
“A cursory reading of the accusatory portion of the information suggests that the accused allegedly merely promised employment to the purported complainants Lorna Valino, Ana Marie Gonzales and Jenalyn Paraiso and that the accused had no license or authority from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration,” the motion reads. “The accusatory portion of the information then concludes essentially that the accused allegedly committed illegal recruitment in large scale constituting economic sabotage, ‘to the damage and prejudice’ of the said alleged complainants,” it added.
Valino, Gonzales and Paraiso were among the 14 complainants against Sergio, Lacanilao and two unnamed co-accused. The others were Veloso’s relatives Cesar (father), Celia (mother) and Maritess Veloso-Laurente (sister), etc.
According to the inquest resolution, the crime of illegal recruitment is “already committed when an offender promises to a person employment abroad without necessary license or authority from the POEA.”
But the PAO called it a “ludicrous assertion and interpretation of Republic Act 8042. It cited the case of People vs. Angeles, that said that to prove illegal recruitment, it must be shown that the accused “gave complainants the distinct impression that he had the power or ability to send complainants abroad for work such that the latter were convinced to part with their money in order to be employed.”
“None of the complainants herein made such a claim in their sinumpaang salaysay of making any payment to the accused,” the PAO said. The court has no jurisdiction over Sergio and Lacanilao, the PAO added, because their arrest that was done warrantless was “illegal.”
