DOJ, DFA: No official Indonesia request for prisoner swap

MANILA, Philippines — There is no official request from Indonesia for swapping Alice Guo with an Australian drug kingpin and long-time fugitive from Jakarta who was arrested in Cebu last May, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday.

DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said an official communication regarding the matter would have to go through the Department of Foreign Affairs.

DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo told The STAR last night that he is “not aware” of any such request.

Manalo, however, thanked Indonesia through its ambassador in Manila for the assistance in the arrest of Guo. Manalo, who attended Indonesia’s 79th National Day celebration at the Dusit Thani, said he ordered the Philippine embassy in Jakarta to assist the Philippine officials  who flew to Indonesia to pick up Guo.

Clavano said it was only from Indonesian media where the DFA learned of a purported request from Jakarta to trade Guo, a dismissed Tarlac town mayor, with Australian drug suspect Gregor Johann Haas. Drug trafficking is punishable by death in Indonesia. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested Haas on May 15 in Bogo, Cebu.

“It’s very premature to even talk about this because we haven’t yet received official request,” Clavano told reporters.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said “there is nothing on the table” for a possible custody trade-off.

“Personally, I have no knowledge. (I) will get information on the ground, but I have not heard of anything like this on the table,” Sandoval said in an interview on GMA 7.

She added that the bureau does not practice exchanging detainees, as it follows only mandated deportation proceedings. She stressed they have good communication with their counterparts in Indonesia.

“They have been very, very helpful and they pledged that they would finish this and deport mayor Alice Guo and even her brother Wesley, whose movements they are also monitoring and whom they also want to deport back to the Philippines,” Sandoval pointed out.

Sandoval also said they fully support President Marcos’ order for an investigation on the possible involvement of some officials of BI and other agencies as well as private individuals in the escape of Guo, who turned out be a