Faith on tenterhooks

IT’S STILL status quo. Talk of her being possibly executed soon is a product of normal apprehension because the holy Ramadan ends this week and new executions reportedly may be scheduled.

But there is presently no A-1 news, report or information on Mary Jane Veloso’s indefinite reprieve even as there are conflicting information going around. Our counterpart Indonesian lawyers with whom we have real time contact say there is no significant update yet. Indonesian migrants and women’s organizations we have real time coordination with are keeping their eyes on the ball always.

However, Mary Jane is naturally anxious about the progress of the cases in the Philippines against her remorseless and quite arrogant illegal recruiter. But otherwise she is fine and holding up.

Meanwhile, an Indonesian women’s group has recently visited her. World boxing icon Manny Pacquiao met with her last Friday (July 10). A Nueva Ecija court has just junked illegal recruiter Maria Cristina Sergio’s move to dismiss the cases filed by the other victims of her nefarious scheme of human trafficking. The Department of Justice reportedly said a resolution of Mary Jane and her family’s complaints for illegal recruitment, human trafficking and swindling is forthcoming, maybe this same week.

We keep on crossing our fingers while on tenterhooks navigating through thicket and maze amid this formidable, yet not insurmountable, storm.

—EDRE U. OLALIA, secretary general, JOSALEE DEINLA, assistant secretary general for education, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, [email protected]