Widodo welcomed at Clark ahead of Asean summit

Indonesian President Joko Widodo steps down from a government airplane after arriving at the Clark International Airport on Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017. Widodo and 20 other world leaders are expected to attend the Asean Summit and other related summits in Manila. INQUIRER.NET / FRANCES MANGOSING

CLARK FREEPORT — Indonesia President Joko Widodo arrived at Clark International Airport at about noon Sunday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Manila.

He was welcomed by Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol and other officials after he got off an Indonesian government plane.

All world leaders arriving in Clark Airport like Widodo were welcomed with a traditional dance performance by hundreds of students from Pampanga and Bulacan.

Widodo was also in the Philippines last April for the Asean. He later joined President Rodrigo Duterte for the launch of the Asean roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) service in Davao City.

The ferry service, plying Davao City and General Santos, was meant to connect Mindanao to Bitung and Manado in Indonesia.

Among the topics during the bilateral meetings of Widodo and Duterte last April was the case of convicted drug mule Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina domestic worker on death row in Indonesia.

Veloso was arrested at the Yogyakarta airport in 2010 after being caught in possession of 2.6 kilos of heroin.

She was given a death sentence in the same year for drug trafficking, but her execution was postponed at the last minute after her alleged recruiter surrendered to authorities. The Philippine government said her testimony would be vital against her recruiters. /cbb