A total of 177 Indonesian citizens were caught using Philippine passports for hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
President Jokowi informed that of these 177, 168 citizens have returned home but nine others were still in the Philippines.
"Nine are still in Manila. We have asked him to help settle their problem immediately," he told a joint press conference held with Duterte at the Presidential Palace after their meeting.
Jokowi reminded that in addition to the 177 citizens, 700 others were already in Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage who had departed from the Philippines.
"We thanked for the cooperation that the Philippine government has extended with regard to the problems of these 700 citizens," he added.
He assured that the problems of the 700 citizens would be settled by the Philippines and Indonesia acting together.
President Jokowi also hailed the cooperation to ensure security in Sulu waters and hoped there would no more security issues in the waters between the two countries.
"We will conduct joint patrolling to ensure security in the Sulu waters," he underlined.
On this occasion, President Duterte hailed the signing of the trilateral agreement among Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia to maintain sea security.
Regarding the frequent cases of piracy in the Philippines waters, Dutarte said piracy is an international crime.
Before the meeting, President Jokowi took Duterte on a tour of Tanah Abang, the biggest textile marketplace in Southeast Asia, in the afternoon.
Duterte arrived in Jakarta on Thursday evening after having attended the 28th ASEAN Summit and the 29th Related Summits in Vientiane, Laos.
A dinner is scheduled to be held at the Presidential Palace in the evening in honor of President Dutarte.
Reporting by santoso
(H-YH/INE/B003)
EDITED BY INE
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/B003)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
