Inside Philippine politics & beyond

Mary Jane Veloso case shows urgent need for better ASEAN coordination against drug traffickers

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Just my opinion

By Raïssa Robles

CRIME-LOGOIn the early morning hours when Mary Jane Veloso was supposed to be executed, I couldn’t sleep.

I was kept awake thinking how she could have been saved by simple transnational police work on the day she was arrested.

If only there was some kind of a mechanism, procedure or protocol among ASEAN countries that could have verified what Veloso had told airport security the day she was arrested.

The problem with nabbing drug traffickers is that their crime starts in one or two countries and is perpetrated in a third.

For instance, Veloso was — unwittingly — recruited as a mule in Manila. But she only really became one in Kuala Lumpur. And she was caught as one in Jakarta.

How do you investigate that kind of crime and catch the real perpetrators?

Only an agreement signed by countries under the ASEAN umbrella can help, alongside with China. Ironically, the year 2015 is supposed to be the target set for a “Drug Free ASEAN” (see at the end of this piece).

Here’s how it might work.

The moment Mary Jane was caught in Jakarta a case officer would try to gauge whether Mary Jane was really a mule, and if so, if she could be used to take the police up the food chain  so that instead of merely nabbing a (probably innocent) foot soldier authorities can target the masterminds, or at least try to round up the contacts she was instructed to meet.

For this approach to work ASEAN must agree collectively that the imprisonment (and execution) of mules is not the priority, that they can be used to help arrest the actual members of the drug syndicates who run this operation. Cooperation means they would get leniency.

The second thing that (theoretical) ASEAN police coordination could have done in Mary Jane’s case is extraction of actionable intelligence. An officer could have drawn out all the details from Mary Jane. For instance, she said she had stayed for three days with  her neighbor named Christine at the Sun Inn Lagoon Hotel near Pyramid Mall in KL. She had met Christine’s boyfriend and the latter’s brother whom she named  “I.k” at the hotel parking lot. And it was “I.k” who had bought her the bag found with heroin.

Each country-member of ASEAN could have a quick reaction force dedicated to collectively fight cross-border drug-trafficking. In Mary Jane’s case, the quick reaction force based in KL would be quickly contacted and told to look for “I.k”, Christine’s boyfriend and the latter’s brother. The same QRF will alert immigration authorities in KL and other airports to be on the look out for all four and to nab them for questioning. In addition, KL’s immigration will draw from its databanks everything they have on Christine. The airline which Mary Jane and Christine took from Manila to KL will be asked to look for the true identity of Christine and who paid for the airfares. In the case of airlines, the ASEAN will draw up agreements with all the airlines which fly in and out of the region’s airports.

In this way, the airlines’ cooperation with the QRF would become routine. Under the agreement, each airline will assign someone at each airport to process QRF requests.

Immigration authorities across ASEAN would also be routinely advised of any person of interest in connection with cross border drug arrests. [NOTE: It is the same system that banks use to flag deposits which exceed certain thresholds.] In Mary Jane’s case, Manila’s immigration would be asked to watch out for Christine’s arrival at any  airport and hold and question her the moment she arrived.

ASEAN should not stop its efforts there, though. The institution should produce ads that can be played in all the TV sets of airport terminals warning passengers – in various languages – to beware of becoming unwitting and even willing mules of drug syndicates. The ad should also warn passengers not to give in to strangers’ requests for them to check in anything for them through the airport gates.

This warning is particularly important for women travelers from Manila. I remember that a fellow traveler once asked me to hold for her a package at the weigh-in gate because she said her luggage was already overweight. I was about to do it out of kindness when better sense told me not to. When I turned down her request she looked offended and left.

The ad should also give out information that there is a specific counter at the airport where a mule who is having second thoughts could report her situation and turn herself in, cooperate in getting the drug traffickers arrested and convicted, and get leniency for doing so.

Drug traffickers nowadays do a lot of recruiting on Facebook. I think that if a woman is facing the death penalty in another country and her only defense is that she was duped into falling in love with a man who recruited her as a drug courier through Facebook, then Facebook should seriously consider handing over evidence of their online communications to be used for her defense in her court trial.

That is the case with an Australian mother named Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto. She now faces a possible death penalty in Malaysia after a bag she was carrying was found to contain over 50 grams of ice (shabu). She said a man who had romanced her online asked her to carry a bag containing documents from Shanghai to KL.

Her case has just now been transferred to a high court.

Considering that Exposto could be hanged for the crime, will the site where she met the man online now be willing to provide her lawyers evidence and even a way of tracing the man’s real identity?

 

 

Comments

  1. The best way to beat drug trafficking is to make prohibited drugs legal, which would be solely administered and distributed by the government.

  2. Since the news about Mary Jane Veloso came out I never heard a word from her district congressman nor from their local chief executive. They even had the gall to ask for help from Manny Pacquiao. Perhaps they don’t trust their local officials at all.

    Under the local government code of 1991, the general welfare clause under Section 16 provides, ….. Within their respective territorial jurisdictions, local government units shall ensure and support, amoing other things …… enhance economic prosperity and SOCIAL JUSTICE, PROMOTE FULL EMPLOYMENT AMONG THEIR RESIDENTS …… (emphasis mine).

    Tall order for local officials but these are their sworn duties.

  4. floyd sprinted away another win.
    manny, you have to knock him down to get a draw.
    hahahaha!

    • Same sentiment here.

      The judges get the nod for Mayweather, probably because they were paid 3 times as much as the usual fee. The announcers of the match, preconditioned the mind of the audience by constantly proclaiming that Mayweather was controlling the fight in every round, except Round 4 and six, were Pacquiao clearly dominated the said Rounds.

      Nadaya na naman si Manny.

      I don’t like Pacquiao’s political leaning and would never vote for him, but I am a fan when it comes to boxing. I feel dejected seeing him beaten.

  5. Illegal Drug Problem. Suggested remedies: 1. Re-Impose Death Penalty. 2. Change laws and criminal procedures by making it easier and faster to arrest, charge, prosecute and convict offenders.

    Apply Raissa’s idea and accomplish Nos. 1 and 2 above. Without all these, everybody and gov’t is shooting air in the clouds. Not much will be effective to curb the menace. Gov’t is wasting billions of pesos with present ineffective laws, procedures and protocols.

  6. Paragraph 60 – pinadalhan si Celia nang P5,200 para sa passport.
    Para 70 – additional P82,000 to Celia from Indo policewomen Puri and Bita.

    Why in hell did the policewomen spend such large amount for MJ and family? The cost of living in Jakarta is similar to Manila. In para 64 MJ warned that something bad would happen to her if Celia would not come to Indonesia. Why would Puri and Bita – or people behind them – be so interested in seeing and entertaining Celia and family in Indonesia?

    By hitting PNoy, Celia put MJ’s life in jeopardy. Does Celia want MJ’s execution pushed through? Is that what the drug syndicate wants? Of course the drug syndicate wants MJ to bring their secret to her grave.

    My theory. The drug syndicate wanted to show that they were supporting MJ and her family, and for Celia to stop running after Cristina Sergio and her cohorts. That was in 2013. MJ would never testify in court against any member of the syndicate to save her family especially her children. She was so brainwashed by syndicate members including corrupt Indonesian police.

    I believe that Sergio asked for protective custody not because of MJ’s relatives but due to her fear of the drug syndicate. MJ was about to be executed in 12 hours. And Sergio knew that MJ’s execution would trigger a manhunt for her and the syndicate. That the syndicate could easily beat the government in silencing her and Lacanilao. Thus, Sergio and and Lacanilao sought protective custody and played it by the ear whether to squeal or not.

    With the diminished support by the netizens – and the government – to MJ and Celia, the execution of MJ is most likely. Because both MJ and Sergio would not cooperate. End of the road for the government, and Sergio together with
    Lacanilao would go scot free but would defend themselves in the
    preliminary investigation (PI) of the case. As to the result of the PI, my guess is as good as my neighbor. Thus, the drug syndicate members lie low for the meantime.

  7. Underdog Egypt horse with Egyptian owners handled by a top american horse trainer wins 2015 Kentucky Derby.
    American Pharoah was tagged as the Pacquiao of today derby by race broadcasters.

    A good omen for the underdog Filipino Kamao?
    By Unanimous decision.

    • Very interesting, thanks!

      At one point, I was surprised to find out Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario was in Yogyakarta visiting Mary Jane, and I complained that I wasn’t informed. The embassy officials said: “How did you know? We didn’t tell any media because we don’t want Indonesia to think we’re pressuring them.”
      ..
      The messaging from the family, Migrante and NUPL was consistent: The government hasn’t done enough and isn’t doing enough. Having covered the story from Jakarta, I was at first surprised at all this, because I saw here what the embassy had been doing. But for a family desperate to save their daughter, it was perhaps easy to equate failure to achieve something, to lack of action.

      The DFA representatives and the Philippine embassy, on the other hand, were of course insistent they’ve been doing all they can. But I also saw that their approach included working with the Indonesian government and following their rules. And this might have been interpreted as not completely looking after the interests of Mary Jane and her family.

      Of course the attitude of many Filipinos is what is being done for ME and MY FAMILY directly.

      • Mahusay na komentaryo ng isang Anonymous:

        Migrante-NULP daw ang tumulong? tumulong sa publicity pwede pa. tumulong sa daldal. tumulong sa porma. Mga Veloso, pasensiya na kayo na ang gobyerno natin ay tahimik na nagtatrabaho di gaya ng gusto niyo na ingay. Pasensiya na kayo at yung mga opisyal na tumutulong ngayong sa kaso ni Mary Jane hindi kasama si Jojo Binay — kasi pag kasama ang taong ito, lahat ng hakbang niya ipapaTV niya. Yun ang gusto niyo. galing kasi si Binay sa ganyang trabaho gaya ng Migrante-NULP, puro ingay at paporma at gustong utuhin ang mga tao na may nagagawa pero ang hangarin lang ay pablisidad.

        Pasensiya na kayo. Kawawa naman kayo. Hindi na nga kayo nagpasalamat sa gobyerno na tumulong sa inyo, sinisiraan niyo pa. Nakakalungkot at hinahahayaan nyong utuhin kayo ng mga tao o grupo na ang naitulong lang sa inyo e paigtingin ang galit niyo sa gobyerno na sa simula’t simula pa e tumulong na sa kaso ni Mary Jane. Maghunus-dili naman kayo. wala na ang simpatiya ng sambayanan sa inyo. Nanghihingi kayo ng hustisya para kay Mary Jane pero hindi hustisya ang kelangan niya. Awa ang kailangan niya kasi pag hustisya ang pinairal (at mukhang yun ang susundin ng Indonesia) itutuloy rin ang pagsesentensiya sa kanya kasi lumabag siya sa batas nila.

        Ngayon, yung awa na abuloy namin para kay Mary Jane nawala na dahil sa kagaspangan niyo.

  9. TIME OF MAIN EVENT: PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT

    It is on May 2 US and 8 PM PT or 11 PM ET isn’t it? Which means 11 AM Philippine time?

    • Normally, the main event starts at 12AM, U.S. Eastern Standard Time which means 12PM (Sunday) in the Philippines at this time of the year.

      • Thanks. Which means we should be on online news alert from say 10:30 AM for certainty sake. My village will have this live but I want to make sure I don’t miss it. (Am not a boxing aficionado, but I am sure I will enjoy watching this.)

    • Hindi ko mapapanood ng live ang laban ni Pacquiao.

      Kasalanan ‘yan ng gobyerno. Hindi man lang ako biniyang ng pambayad sa TFC Pay-Per-View.

      Pag-uwi ko, sisingilin ko sila. This is not about the money. This is about Manny!

      • Creative wordings on sarcasm. Your note brings laughter. What the family of MJ Veloso has done would be for laughs too if Mary Jane is already out of danger.

        They need all the help and sympathy they can get since MJ is only on reprieve; instead their actuation — influenced no doubt by the leftist groups and politicians out to profit from the affair — will not help their cause. Even many who were sympathetic may not be sympathetic anymore when another cry for help and prayers from the Velosos are asked.

        VERY SAD. MASAMA ANG PAGKAKA SCRIPT PARA SA MGA VELOSOS. Bad too for the leftists and the politicians, akala nila kakagat ang script. Nag-boomerang ang script nila.

        • pinoys were pampered by the Trapos.
          they are being condoned to do same thing they are doing.
          nagkakamutan ng kati ng bawat isa.
          kaya ngayon, maraming pinoys ang lubhang naging mapaghanap, palahingi at palaasa.
          masdan ang marami nating lupain sa rural areas na inabandona. nakatiwang-wang.
          inulila o ibenenta.
          nag-abroad ang ilan.
          ang iba ay nagsiluwas upang tumira sa mga ciudad na ang mga pinuno ay nangungunsinti ng mga tamad para sa paniguradong boto kada halalan.
          hayan, dumarami ang nahihirati sa pamumuhay na pakaang-kaang lang.
          nag-aantay ng sasamahang rally na mag upang 200 to 500 pesos.

  10. Where Is Ike ?
    ——————–

    Mary Jane may not be saved unless there is SPECIFIC evidence to show that Christine and African drug dealers tricked her to carry a bag hidden with heroin.

    That means what occurred at KL and at Sun Inn Lagoon is VITAL.

    Christine is denying any involvement with the drugs that MJ carried.

    HENCE, it is so important that the African called Ike is :

    – Located and investigated ASAP. NBI should sent their best artists to Indonesia to assist MJ to have a caricature done of IKe .It should then be circulated throughout the Internet.

    – The strategy then would then be to link Ike with the drug trade and being present in KL and Sun Inn Lagoon at the same time that MJ was there.

    Forget about Christine being charged for illegal trafficking etc. To save MJ would mean to show that Christine and or the Africans were the one who tricked her to carry the drugs.

    Just pray some breakthrough may occur. Personally, I think the chances are slim.

    • hawak ni duterte ang davao, he of the quick draw macgraw whose slogan is babarilin ko sila.

      mayor duterte with burgeoning ambition of being future president of the republic can surely clean davao of impurities.

      2016 election is coming and election fund is needed. since it is no longer easy to dip into the public purse, people are being creative, that’s my humble opinion.

      • I am of two minds about Duterte. I see the problem with his allegedly going by extralegal measures. But what do you do if police and justice systems do not work? His city is apparently very successful. Different religions and ethnic groups seem to coexist well in an otherwise difficult area.

        If discipline is not fully internalized, you have to enforce it externally. If the police and justice system work like in Munich where I live, fine. If not, what do you do, wait for a slow and corrupt system?

        Duterte is a lawyer – and reminds me of District Attorney Harvey Dent in the movie “The Dark Knight”.

  12. The Malaysian link in MJ Veloso’s case reminds me of the murder case of welfare attache Finardo Cabilao back in 2009. I searched the news archives in the internet but it seems that the case was forgotten after that year. Anyone here has updates?

    • Kung ako ang tatanungin, mas uusisahin ko pa iyong mga puntong 69 at 74. Bakit iyong mga kaibigan na pulis ni MJV, sila pa ang nag-imbita at nagpasyal kay CFV atbp.? Tulad ng naobserba ni pelang, biglang bihis na bihis, pormang-porma si MJV noong na-pardon, tugon ko baka may kontakt sa loob.

      Alam nating lahat na matindi rin ang “korupsi” sa Indonesia. Iyong pocket money na 20 thousand pesos, 400 EUR iyon, malaking pera. Iyong pulis na kaibigan ni MJV ang gumastos para kay CFV – strange…

      Maaring totoo iyong mga iilang isinalaysay ni CFV tungkol sa dating ng illang mga DFA, meron talagang mga opisyal na ganyan kahit saan, matapobre at mataas ang ilong, marami ring mga makatao tulad ng namatay nang si Tony Modena. Pero huwag Presidente o gobyerno ang sisihin ni CFV sa ganyan…

    • Sabi sa affidavit ni celia veloso, noong 2012 ay na-postpone yong pagbitay kay mary jane at eto ay dahil sa pagapila ng ipinadalang abogado ng gobyerno at may interpreter pa at saka pera. tapos ginastusan din ang biyahe nila. Ibig sabihin nito, tinulungan talaga din si mary jane ng gobyerno natin. Bakit ang sabi niya(celia veloso) ay walang naitulong ang gobyerno. Walang utang na loob itong pamilya veloso. hindi alam ng pamilyang ito na bawat big action ng gobyerno ay may mga prosesong dinadaanan, hindi nila siguro alam yon, kaya siguro nasa isip nila walang naitulong ang gobyerno. Para sa akin kung hindi sila tinulungan ng gobyerno, di rin sila makakakilos, dahil tingin ko kapos din naman sila.
      At saka yong sinasabing mga ipinadalang pera ni mary jane, e.g. 82k pocket money, na tulong daw ng pulis sa Indonesia, sorry, pero ang unang naisip ko ng mabasa ko yon, ay baka ang pera ay galing sa sindikato ng drugs na nambiktima kay mary jane.

      • Malilong: Claim of Mary Jane’s mother
        Saturday, May 02, 2015

        By Frank Malilong

        LET’S get our facts straight.

        Mary Jane Veloso was all set to be executed along with eight other drug convicts in Indonesia. Hours before her execution, her Filipino counsel, a human rights lawyer (most probably hired by Migrante) tweeted: “I could not bring Darren’s mom home alive.”

        He also posted on Facebook:

        “No more concrete and realistic expectation decision will change. Let’s brace for it. Preps here shifting to implementation of sentence anytime, most probably midnite. Hope we are darn wrong. Profoundest apologies for failing Mary Jane, her family and all migrant workers. I could not bring Darren’s mom back home alive.”

        At the first hour of Wednesday, the death sentences were carried out by a firing squad. But Veloso’s life was spared. The Indonesian president granted her a reprieve upon the intercession of President Aquino, according to the country’s attorney general.

        “It’s a miracle, Veloso’s sister Marites, said of the development. Before that, they “were already resigned to their sister’s fate,” according to her.

        Their mother, Celia, now claims that Aquino should not be credited for the reprieve. “We’ve returned home for payback…This is not about money. The government owes us because they tricked us,” she declared in a press conference upon her arrival in Manila, surrounded by Migrante members.

        Owes them what?

        Aquino did not even claim credit for Veloso’s new lease of life. It was the Indonesian government who disclosed the Philippine president’s pivotal role in his counterpart’s change of heart on the convict’s fate.

        They’re now saying that the efforts of Migrante and/or it’s counterpart in Indonesia in saving Veloso should be the one recognized. I see nothing wrong with that even if the Migrante-supplied human rights lawyer had already given up on Mary Jane and even if Migrante failed to save the eight others for whom Aquino did not intercede.

        But even if they do not want to thank Aquino, the Velosos should refrain from claiming that he or the government did not do anything for Mary Jane. At the very least, they should acknowledge that the government spent for them so they could travel to Indonesia and be near Mary Jean during her remaining days.

        “I am an OFW,” a reader who went by the handle, Duroyzki, posted on Rappler. “Every year I pay to the POEA, the OWWA, the OEC and Philhealth. I applied through a licensed recruitment agency, paid the placement fees and underwent the training required by the government. I obeyed the laws of the Philippines as well as that of the country where I work.

        “But this one (referring to Mary Jane) never followed any of the rules and regulations, committed a crime and when arrested and convicted sought the help of the very government that she ignored. And now that she has obtained a reprieve, her family is saying that the government has not extended any help to her?

        “Hey, the money that the government spent to help you, part of that comes from us, deposited by us, the legitimate OFWs with the OWWA. Have some shame.”

        The comment is only one of the many adverse reactions coming from netizens. Seventy-one percent of the readers are annoyed by the accusation of the Velosos.

        Another19 percent are angry, according to the Rappler Mood Meter.

        The Velosos say that they’re grateful for the outpouring of support that the family got during their crisis. Well, the crisis is not yet over and it would not do them good to waste the people’s goodwill by making reckless accusations.

        In case they do not know, a number of people are now calling them “ingrates.”

        Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/2015/05/02/malilong-claim-mary-janes-mother-405444

    • Very interesting. While the Aussies have less true experts on Indonesia, my impression is that the new generation of Asian leaders is less willing to take the old stuff. After all, the balance of power is shifting and the postcolonial era is definitely over.