PH denies Duterte gave go-ahead for MJ execution

JAKARTA. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has denied that he okayed the execution of Philippine death-row drug inmate Mary Jane Veloso during his meeting with Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo last week.

"President Duterte has not given a so-called ‘green light’ to the execution of Mary Jane Veloso," Philippine Foreign Affairs secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr said in a clarification statement on Monday.

Yasay stressed that Veloso's execution had been indefinitely postponed.

Yasay clarified further that Duterte had told Jokowi that the Philippines respected the Indonesian judicial process and would accept whatever the Indonesian authorities' final decision was regarding Veloso's case.

Jokowi was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in Serang, Banten, that Duterte had given the go-ahead to proceed with the execution during the meeting of the two leaders.

According to Jokowi, the legal process will be followed up by Attorney General M. Prasetyo.