Malacañang Palace clarifies news reports about President Rodrigo Duterte being invited by US President-elect Donald Trump to the US.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella clarified through an interview with dzRB that the US President did not specifically invite President Duterte.
“According to the transcript po, wala pong specific na sinabi na inimbita ang Presidente,” Abella said.
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The Presidential spokesperson made it clear that it was just to make sure that Trump would be notified if ever Duterte was in Washington or New York.
“Based on the transcript, ang sinabi po actually … ni President Donald Trump na kung mangyari man na naandun siya sa New York o sa Washington ay dapat … na mapaalam kay Donald Trump,” he said.
However, this “transcript” of the conversation between Duterte and Trump that was sent to the media by the Presidential Communications Office has quoted Duterte of saying, “And he has invited me to visit New York and Washington DC, he [Trump] said that if I’m around, he wants to be notified of my presence and maybe…”
This clarification by the Presidential spokesperson came after Christopher “Bong” Go, Duterte’s special advisor, said last Friday that US President-elect Trump invited Duterte over to the White House next year.
Go did not disclose what event President Duterte had been invited to by the US President.
Abella stated that it would most probably not be the inauguration of Trump since heads of states are not usually invited during an American president’s inauguration.
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“Hindi po kasi tradition na nag-iimbita ng heads of state para sa ano eh, para sa inauguration. Kadalasan, ano lang po, that’s really an American event. Wala po, traditionally, hindi po talaga nag-iimbita,” Abella said.
“But ang sinabi lang, na kung mangyari at naandoon siya sa Washington at New York, ay ipaalam lang sa kanya, ipaalam kay President Trump. ‘Yun po,” he added.
It was also confirmed by Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella that the US President-elect was invited by President Duterte for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit which will be hosted by the Philippines next year.
Sources: (gmanetwork.com, facebook.com)
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