Duterte to seek mercy for Veloso

DAVAO CITY – President Duterte yesterday said he would plead for mercy on behalf of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso when he meets with Indonesian President Joko Widodo this week.

Veloso, who was sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking, was scheduled to be executed in April last year but got a last-minute reprieve after her recruiters who allegedly planted illegal drugs in her luggage surrendered to Philippine authorities.

Veloso has maintained she is innocent and was only tricked by her recruiter into smuggling cocaine.

“I may just have to ask President Widodo in the most respectful and very, very courteous way… (I would) plead for mercy,” Duterte said yesterday.

“But if my pleading will fall on deaf ear, I am ready to accept it,” he said in a press briefing prior to his departure for Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

From Laos, the President will proceed to Indonesia on Thursday for a two-day state visit.

Duterte, whose administration is waging a drug war, said he does not doubt the efficiency of Indonesia’s judicial system.

“I’ve been there once upon a time and was able to observe how it works,” he said.

“I might just accept the system and plead for mercy but if President Widodo will deny it, still I would be grateful that she had been treated very well. After all, we have our laws to follow,” he said.

Duterte, who is pushing for the reinstatement of the death penalty in the Philippines, admitted he would not know how to respond if he were in Widodo’s shoes.

“Had it been the other way around – I might also be at the receiving end of so many pleas for mercy – I would never know how to react,” he said.