MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will skip the summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (Asean) leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 24, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Duterte would not be attending the Asean Leaders’ meeting due to “face-to-face” requirement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.
“Ang Presidente po, hindi personally mag-attend (The President will not personally attend),” Roque said. “Ang pagkakaintindi ko po diyan, it’s the issue of face-to-face (My understanding is [his reason of skipping is] it’s the issue of face-to-face),” Roque said.
The summit will be held as the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) continues to grapple the Philippines, as well as the nine other Asean countries.
Apart from Duterte, other Asean leaders would also likely fail to attend the conference in Jakarta because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Roque said.
“Could it be face-to-face or could it be virtual, marami rin pong mga hindi makakarating na heads of states from Asean personally (Could it be face-to-face or could it be virtual, many of the heads of Asean would not be able to attend personally),” he said.
Duterte, Roque said, would instead send a representative from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“I'm sure that our Department of Foreign Affairs will be there,” he said.
Last year, Duterte participated in the 37th Asean Summit and Related Summits chaired by Vietnam through video conference.
The theme of the 38th Asean Summit and Related Summits chaired by Brunei is “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper”.
Apart from the Philippines, Vietnam, and Brunei, other Asean member-states include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand.
Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced on Tuesday that he would not attend the Asean Summit Leaders in Jakarta.
Indonesia has the highest number of Covid-19 infections among the Asean members, recording a total of 1,620,569 cases.
It is followed by the Philippines (962,307), Malaysia (381,813), Myanmar (142,661), Singapore (60,880), Thailand (46,643), Cambodia (7,747), Vietnam (2,800), Brunei (223), and Laos (88). (PNA)
