MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte said he will try to appeal the case of Filipina drug convict Mary Jane Veloso when he meets his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo later this week.

Duterte, who will fly to Indonesia on Thursday after attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Summit in Laos, said he will discuss Veloso's case with Widodo.

''I may just have to ask Widodo in a most respectful and very, very courteous way. And if my pleading will fall on deaf ear, I am ready to accept it,'' he said.

Veloso was due to be executed last year by firing squad but she was given a last-minute reprieve by Widodo.

READ: Why Mary Jane Veloso got last-minute reprieve

The reprieve was given after Manila told Jakarta that it had in its custody Veloso's recruiter who allegedly planted the illegal drugs in the Filipina's luggage.

Veloso maintains she is innocent and was only tricked by her alleged recruiter into smuggling heroin.

But Duterte, who is waging a bloody illegal drug crackdown at home, said he does not doubt the efficiency of Indonesia's judicial system.

''I don’t doubt the judicial system of Indonesia. I've been there once upon a time and was able to observe how it works,'' he said.

''I might just accept the system and plead for mercy but if President Widodo will deny it, still I would be grateful that she had been treated very well. After all, we have our laws to follow."

Duterte, who is pushing for the reinstatement of death penalty in the Philippines, admitted he would not know how to respond if he were in Widodo's shoes.

''Had it been the other way around -- I might also be at the receiving end of so many pleas for mercy -- I would never know how to react,'' he said.

Indonesia and the Philippines are two of Asia's main suppliers of migrant workers, with about 8.5 million such workers overseas, official data show.

There are 205 Indonesians and 94 Filipino migrant workers on death row overseas, according to Indonesia's women's commission and Migrante International, citing figures from their respective foreign ministries.

Indonesia imposed a moratorium on executions for five years before resuming them in 2013. It has executed 14 convicts, most of them foreigners, under Widodo.

But amid international outrage last year, scheduled executions were postponed while the government focused on reviving the economy, officials said. - with Reuters