Duterte skips morning ASEAN-Australia summit

SKIPPED A MEETING. President Rodrigo Duterte poses for a selfie with on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits at the Suntec Convention and Exhibition Center in Singapore on November 13, 2018. Malacañang photo

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was a no-show at his first official event at the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits in Singapore on Wednesday, November 14.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr showed up in place of Duterte at the ASEAN-Australia Informal Breakfast Summit scheduled to start at 8:30 am on Wednesday.

The meeting is among the 9 official engagements that Duterte was to participate in that day.

As of writing, Malacañang has yet to respond to Rappler’s query on why Duterte did not attend the morning meeting.

Duterte attended the ASEAN-China Summit that was set to start at 9:30 am.

The Philippines is the current coordinator of the ASEAN-China Dialogue, which is currently working on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, a binding document that will set forth protocols and rules to ensure no violent conflicts arise between China and ASEAN countries with claims in the important body of water.

Pattern

Duterte’s non-appearance at the ASEAN-Australia summit affirmed a pattern observed when he flies to attend an international conference. Almost in every major multi-day gathering, the Philippine President is bound to skip one or two events.

In some cases, Duterte or his spokesmen claimed he had to miss some of the activities due to health reasons.

Here’s a list of other events at international gatherings he has missed:

• APEC gala dinner in Vietnam (November 2017)
• 2 summits in Laos: the ASEAN-US and ASEAN-India summits (September 2016)
• Photo-op of ASEAN leaders with US President Barack Obama, also in Laos (September 2016)
• APEC family photo in Peru (November 2016)
• APEC economic leaders retreat “where heads of state divide themselves into smaller groups” and provides “opportunities for leaders to freely discuss among themselves” (November 2016)
• APEC gala dinner hosted by Peru President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (November 2016)

Duterte did not miss events during the ASEAN summits in 2017 since that year, the Philippines hosted the events. Organizers then had said, as ASEAN chairman, Duterte could not be absent at any of the activities. – Rappler.com