DFA sees busy Q1 of 2024 as dignitaries set to visit PH

MANILA, Philippines — The first quarter of 2024 appears to be a busy one for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as different foreign dignitaries are expected to visit the Philippines, while several summits and forums have been scheduled in January and February.

During a briefing on Monday, DFA Spokesperson Teresita Daza gave a list of events that the DFA will be involved in, headlined by the visit of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to the Philippines from January 9 to 11:

• January 9 to 10 – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Retno Marsudi meeting with Secretary Enrique Manalo for 7th Philippine-Indonesia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation
• January 11 to 12 – German Foreign Minister visit to Manila for bilateral meeting with Secretary Manalo
• January 19 to 20 – 19th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kampala, Uganda, with Secretary Manalo leading the Philippine delegation
• January 28 to 29 – Asean Foreign Ministers’ retreat, Luang Prabang, Laos
• February 2 – Asean-EU Ministerial meeting, 3rd EU-Indo Pacific forum in Brussels, Belgium, both attended by Secretary Manalo/ Philippine delegation

When asked if Manalo and his Indonesian counterpart would discuss the fate of Mary Jane Veloso — the Filipina overseas worker convicted in Indonesia for smuggling illegal drugs into the country — Daza said she does not want to preempt what the topics of the meetings would be.

“I don’t like to preempt the meetings, there will be a post-meeting briefing, joint briefing that will happen both with Indonesia and with Germany when the foreign minister comes, so I think some of these questions can actually be answered there,” Daza said.

Since her 2010 arrest and subsequent conviction in Indonesia for drug trafficking, Veloso and her relatives have repeatedly maintained her innocence, insisting that her recruiter should be blamed for the presence of the banned substance in her luggage.

Veloso was supposed to have been executed via firing squad in 2015, but her family and the Philippine government made a last-ditch plea for mercy from the Indonesian government. As a result, she was spared after being granted a last-minute reprieve.

READ: Indonesia denies rumors of Mary Jane Veloso’s execution 

Negotiations have not developed much until in 2022, on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s inaugural state visit to Indonesia, DFA revealed that they have requested Indonesia to give Veloso executive clemency.

READ: DFA requests Indonesia’s executive clemency for Mary Jane Veloso 

Regarding deals that may be signed between Indonesia and the Philippines, Daza also said that they do not have information about such agreements.

READ: Indonesian President Widodo to visit PH from January 9 to 11 

“We don’t have information about an agreement that may be signed but we don’t want to preempt it, if there is something that will be signed I think it will also be presented during the joint briefing after the visit,” she noted.