Family of executed Pinoy face off with ‘recruiter’ at DOJ hearing

Emotions ran high at a Department of Justice (DOJ) hearing on Monday after the family of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, one of the three Filipinos executed in China last March, met face-to-face with Tita Cacayan, the person who allegedly recruited Sally to bring drugs to China. Jayson Ordinario read his sister's letter categorically naming Cacayan as the recruiter who sent her to China. Sally, in her letter, said she did not know that the suitcase Cacayan made her carry contained drugs. "She (Cacayan) is the one who gave the suitcase to me.... I blame her for not telling me the truth. I trust (sic) her so much... I got deeply hurt by the situation," Sally wrote in her letter. "REAL NAME: Tita Cacayan. NICKNAME: Mapet," Sally further said. The letter was dated Jan. 1, 2010 and was addressed to the Philippine Consulate. The letter, however, did not reach its intended recipient because it was still to be translated by a Xiamen court. The letter was only given to the Ordinario family after Sally was executed last March 30. Jayson later told Cacayan to admit recruiting Sally as a drug courier. "Aminin mo na lang para mapatawad ka ng ate ko (Just admit it so you will be forgiven by my sister)," he said. To which, Cacayan replied: "Bakit ko aaminin, di ko naman ginagawa? Parehas naman tayong may travel documents (Why will I admit it? I haven't done anything. We both have travel documents)." Cacayan then later told the Ordinario family that they may have faked Sally's letter because they supposedly gave her a fake name before. "Ang daling gumawa ng sulat. Ginawan mo nga ako ng ibang pangalan magagawa mo rin iyan (It's so easy to make a letter. You created a name for me before, you can make a letter now)," said Cacayan, who also submitted her counter-affidavit to the human trafficking complaint the Ordinario family filed against her. Senior State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo, who is handling the preliminary investigation on the complaint, told Jayson to attach a copy of Sally's letter to their reply to Cacayan's counter-affidavit. "I-attach mo na lang para hindi tayo combative dito sa hearing natin (Just attach it so we are not combative in this hearing)," said Alejo. In an interview with reporters, Jayson asserted that he was telling the truth, adding that in 2009, he volunteered to be a drug mule in Macau and Cacayan was his recruiter. Jayson added that his two companions were also recruited by Cacayan to be drug mules in Malaysia. His two companions were among the witnesses in the human trafficking complaint against Cacayan pending before the DOJ. "Nandito ang dalawang biniktima niya. Sabi niya bibigyan niya ng trabaho sa Malaysia. Pagdating sa Malaysia, pinalunok ng drugs (Her two other victims are here. Cacayan said she will give them jobs in Malaysia, but when they reached Malaysia, they were made to swallow drugs)," said Jayson. - KBK, GMA News