Duterte to go to Singapore for Asean summit

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will travel to Singapore next week to attend the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and to meet with members of the Filipino community.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Ma. Hellen de la Vega said Duterte is expected to address issues involving the well-being of people in the region during the summit to be held from April 27 to 28.

“On the part of the Philippines, the President would address issues that are close to his heart, especially matters that affect the well-being of the peoples of our region,” De la Vega said in a press briefing yesterday at Malacañang.

Duterte will also join his fellow Southeast Asian leaders in two major engagements – the working dinner on April 27 and the leaders’ retreat on April 28.

De la Vega said the Philippines has requested a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Two leaders have also expressed interest to meet with Duterte but De la Vega declined to identify them.

It was unclear if Duterte, who stirred controversy recently for saying that “genocide” is happening in Myanmar, would meet with Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. Duterte has apologized for his comment, which he described as “almost satire,” and maintained that he would not interfere in Myanmar’s affairs.

“Not that I know of. But I think that you can also expect that it’s a regular feature as well, that these leaders will be discussing developments there. And I won’t be surprised if Myanmar will offer to brief the leaders on developments in Rakhine,” De la Vega said when asked if Duterte was planning to meet with Suu Kyi.

“I think that’s something that we can leave up to him (Duterte) because you know I can’t predict what the leaders will do there in Singapore.”

The focus of this year’s summit is a resilient and innovative ASEAN, including ways to use innovation and technology to improve the lives of people in the region.

Singapore is expected to introduce initiatives related to the theme like moving forward city development, sustainable urbanization and connectivity among ASEAN cities.

“The summit in Singapore will also be an opportunity for leaders to address transnational and trans-boundary issues such as terrorism, violent extremism, trafficking in persons, illicit drugs and disaster management,” De la Vega said.

Other issues may also be discussed, including the maritime dispute in the South China Sea, which involves China, Taiwan and four ASEAN member-states – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

“Definitely the South China Sea is always a regular feature of our discussions. Come August, we will be taking the country coordinatorship of the dialogue with China. So we really need to discuss that,” De la Vega said.

However, significant developments on a code of conduct for claimants may not emerge during the summit because a working group formed to discuss the issue has just finished its discussions in Vietnam.

“We just had our first meeting at the working group level. So there’s really nothing much to say, it’s like an organizational meeting of this first meeting that was held in Vietnam recently. So what we can say at this stage is that so far, we will begin with the issues that are easier to discuss and then moving on to the more difficult ones,” De la Vega said.

“These things will take some time. And so I think what is important is that we put a premium on the positive momentum that we have now in the improvement of ASEAN-China relations and we will see how we will progress in the next few years,” she added.

De la Vega said the government is also arranging a meeting between Duterte and the Filipino community in Singapore.

“It’s on a planning stage. I think it will be during the last day,” she said. There are about 180,000 Filipinos in Singapore.