Veloso kin to Duterte: Clarify execution reports

Mary Jane Veloso's family and supporters on Monday requested for a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte to clarify reports that he has approved Veloso's execution in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
"The Veloso family and Migrante International are hoping to meet with President Duterte so we could express our urgent concern, and to hear his side on reports coming from Jakarta," Garry Martinez, chair of pro-OFW group Migrante International, said in a statement.


The group was referring to the Jakarta Post report quoting Indonesian President Joko Widodo as saying that Duterte, during their meeting in Jakarta last week, had given the "go-ahead" for Veloso's execution.
Both Malacañang and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay denied this, with presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella saying what Duterte told Widodo was that Indonesia should follow its own laws and that he would not interfere with it.
Yasay, for his part, described the Jakarta Post headline — "Duterte has given the green light for Mary Jane's execution: Jokowi" — as "erroneous,"
But according to Migrante, they want to hear the clarification from Duterte himself.
"While we welcome the clarifications by Secs. Abella and Yasay, we think it is no less than the President who should clarify and assure the country that the government is doing everything to save Mary Jane and to bring her back home," Martinez said.
"The issue today involves two Presidents and we hope our president would talk to us and the public directly," he added.
Veloso, a mother of two, was convicted for bringing 2.6 kilograms of heroin to the Yogyakarta Airport in 2010. Her execution by firing squad was put on hold in 2015 to allow her to testify against the recruiters in the Philippines who allegedly duped her into bringing the illegal drugs to Indonesia. —KBK, GMA News

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