Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso AFP PHOTO / SURYO WIBOWO
A journalist in Indonesia on Monday stood by reports that President Rodrigo Duterte gave the go-signal for the execution of Filipino drug convict Mary Jane Veloso, sharing the audio clip of Indonesian President Joko Widodo making the claim.
Adam Harvey, ABC correspondent in Indonesia, told INQUIRER.net Widodo shared his version of his conversation with Duterte in a public forum, which was covered and reported by other Indonesian media.
“He (Widodo) was speaking to the media outside the grand mosque in Serang, Banten (for the Eid’l Adha),” Harvey said to this reporter on Facebook.
Harvey posted a raw audio clip of Widodo’s statement in Indonesian on Facebook, which he translated as: “I told him that she carried 2.6 kilogram heroin and I told him about the reasons for the delay of her execution. President Duterte then said ‘Please go ahead’ if you want to execute her.”
Based on the audio, a journalist asked “how about the legal process” on Veloso’s execution, to which Widodo replied: “Attorney general will handle it, but that’s what President Duterte said.”
But the Philippine presidential palace maintained that Duterte only told Widodo to “follow your own law” and “I will not interfere.”
READ: Palace: Duterte told Widodo to ‘follow own law’ in Veloso case
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay also claimed that Duterte only said that “he respects their judicial processes and will accept whatever the final decision they will arrive at regarding her case.”
Harvey took to Twitter to react to the Philippine government’s statements: “That’s not how @jokowi remembers the conversation. We have the audio of the Indonesian president’s comments.”
Veloso, who was arrested at Adisucipto Airport in Yogkayarta in April 2010, was temporarily spared the firing squad in April last year.
After his attendance in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Laos last week, Duterte flew to Jakarta for a working visit to meet with Widodo and raise Veloso’s case. Yasay then claimed that Veloso’s execution was deferred because it was not an “urgent issue.” JE/rga
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