Facebook user Agnes Arthur shared a fake article to the Facebook group “DDS/Diehard Duterte Supporters” about US President-elect Donald Trump supposedly being quoted saying “I need Duterte.” This was allegedly Trump’s response after Communications Secretary Martin Andanar announced that he and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. will be sent as representatives to the inauguration of the US President-elect.
This fake news was posted by usa-radio.com and stems from the old news about Duterte being personally invited by Trump for his inauguration, a news that has already been busted and proven to be fake by Meme Buster.
Trump did not invite President Rodrigo Duterte to his inauguration. Rather, the invitation that was extended during both leaders’ phone call was for Trump to have coffee with Duterte when the latter goes to Washington or New York. This was confirmed by Duterte after he had a phone call with Trump last December 2016.
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“When you come to Washington and New York, look me up. Let’s have coffee,” President Duterte quoted Trump.
Now, the usa-radio.com article claims that after the announcement stating that Andanar and Esperon will attend the inauguration, Trump warns them not to come because he prefers to have Duterte during his inauguration.
This news is proven to be fake as there was no official statement from Trump addressing Andanar and Esperon and saying that he needs Duterte to be there.
Another evidence which proves that the news is fake is the fact that the entire article has been plagiarized from an ABS-CBN article—“Duterte’s proxy: Andanar, Esperon to attend Trump inauguration.” The blog usa-radio.com only added the story about Trump saying “I need Duterte” in order to change the whole story.
Moreover, in the short clip included in the ABS-CBN article, reporters are heard asking Andanar if there will be any representative in the inauguration from the Philippines. The Palace Communications Secretary explained that the representative of the Philippines for the inauguration is the head of mission or the ambassador who is in Washington DC since customarily, heads of states do not attend the inauguration, which is considered to be a domestic affair.
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Reporters further asked if there will be anyone who will be coming from the Philippines aside from the ambassador and Andanar confirmed that he will be attending it together with Esperon “as per invitation of our friends in Washington DC.”
Andanar did not fully disclose who the “friends” who invited them are but as for official news, Duterte did not get a special or personal invitation for Trump’s inauguration.
Andanar also said that they will be performing their respective functions during their brief visit to the US and are scheduled to have side meetings while in the said country. However, he did not disclose who they would be talking to.
“The Charge d’ Affaires will officially represent Duterte,” Andanar said.
Andanar and Esperon flew to the United States on Tuesday for Donald Trump’s inauguration which will be happening on January 20, Friday.
Sources: (philstar.com, sunstar.com, news.abs-cbn.com)
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