BBM: No official request for prisoner swap from Indonesia

There was no official request from the Indonesian government for a prisoner swap in exchange for dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo’s extradition to the country, President Marcos clarified yesterday.

- HELEN FLORES

Marcos made the remarks to address reports that Indonesia demanded Gregor Johann Haas, an Australian man wanted by Jakarta for alleged drug smuggling, in exchange for Guo.

“There was no swap,” the President said. “Because an article came out in Indonesia that there should be a swap. But that was not official.”

The Bureau of Immigration arrested Haas on May 15 in Bogo, Cebu.

Marcos, however, admitted that Guo’s return to the country “was not that simple.”

“We were negotiating very intricate, very sensitive and very delicate details for the last – what, maybe 48 hours. We talked to our friends in Indonesia,” the Chief Executive said.