Widodo arrives on first state visit
MANILA: New Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived on his first state visit to the Philippines yesterday, as the fate of a Filipina facing execution for drug smuggling in his country hovers over planned talks.
Mr Widodo, on the last stop of a three-nation trip after visiting Malaysia and Brunei, will meet Philippine President Benigno Aquino today with the pair expected to sign several agreements, the presidential palace in Manila said.
However, his visit comes as the Philippines tries to prevent the execution of a female national facing death by firing squad in Indonesia after being convicted of smuggling heroin.
A spokesman for Mr Aquino, Edwin Lacierda, said the leaders would discuss drug trafficking but did not say if they would address the case of the woman, who has not been publicly named.
“We are in discussions to further work out cooperation in various areas of mutual interest and concerns, such as migrant workers, technical-vocational skills upgrading, the combating of trafficking of narcotics and [for] educational visits,” Mr Lacierda said. China is also likely to be on the agenda, analysts said, with Indonesia regarded as having a potentially pivotal role in calming rising tensions between Manila and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
In August, then-president-elect Mr Widodo told Japan’s Asahi newspaper that Indonesia, which has better bilateral ties with China than the Philippines, stood ready to act as an intermediary.
“Indonesia has the gravitas to be the champion of peace in the Asean. Widodo can also be our partner in our efforts to improve relations with China,” said Wilfrido Villacorta, a former Philippine ambassador to Asean. “Even if Indonesia is not a claimant country, it has been playing the role of a convenor of important discussions since the 1980s,” continued Mr Villacorta.