THE cloud of doubt on what President Rodrigo Duterte said during his talk with Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on the case of Mary Jane Veloso, who was sentenced with death by the Indonesian court for trafficking 2.6 kilos of heroin from Malaysia, was cleared when on Tuesday Duterte stated that, “the law is the law.”
Veloso's execution was temporarily stayed by the Indonesian Court upon the intervention of the previous administration on the basis that Veloso’s illegal recruiters had been arrested and charged with illegal recruitment and that she should be allowed to testify against them.
“We will respect the judgment of your court,” President Duterte reiterated in his speech on what he said to President Widodo. President Duterte is only consistent with his strong stance against illegal drugs.
He said that “it could have been a bad taste in the mouth to be talking about it and having a strong posture against drugs. And here you are, begging for something.”
When the news came out that President Duterte gave the go signal to Widodo for Veloso’s execution, Palace officials came rushing to clarify the story. Are the President’s men scared or disconcerted? They know that we have a president who speaks his mind without limits.
But President Widodo stood by what he said he and President Duterte talked about drug convict Veloso. He said the message of his Philippine counterpart was clear, that is, to go ahead, process it in accordance with Indonesian law.
Indeed, it’s a bad taste in the mouth for President Duterte to ask a favor from President Widodo to defer Veloso’s execution when in his home country the drug pushers are being exterminated without the benefit of due process. Well, those killed shouldn’t have fought our cops.
Veloso is even more fortunate than her brethren here because she was afforded due process in a foreign land. Don’t misunderstand me but I’m not for her execution even if she’d been convicted of her crime.
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At last, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, the oldest daughter of the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos, begged for forgiveness for the “sins” of her father. That is in contrast with the stance of her brother, former senator Ferdinand Jr. or Bongbong, who refused to acknowledge the martial law atrocities.
Governor Marcos made the plea at the end of the three-day celebration of the late strongman’s 99th birthday in Batac City on Sunday. She said that whatever sins her father committed he was only human who made mistakes.
Governor Marcos was quoted as saying in Filipino: “I hope that beyond all these issues, they would find mercy because in forgiving my father, their anger would be sated and they too would find peace” (Inquirer.net). She thanked the people who supported their family.
Would the plea of Gov. Imee Marcos change the minds of those who oppose her father’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and perhaps persuade the Supreme Court justices to deny the petition? It’s worth the wait.
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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) immediately took advantage of the pronouncement of President Duterte for the removal of US military forces in Mindanao. In a statement on Tuesday, the CPP expressed support to President Duterte’s statement.
President Duterte must have been too preoccupied with his tough campaign against illegal drugs that he somehow forgot that during his inaugural speech he said he would respect treaties that our government had entered into with other nations.
Can President Duterte abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, the Mutual Logistics Service Agreement (MLSA), the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that the CPP asked him to do?
This is what the CPP/NPA/NDF has long waited for, a Philippine president who could declare and establish our country as independent and non-aligned. But will our Armed Forces and the legislators agree to this? We will know the answer when we tackle the issue.