Palace outlines PRRD’s busy sked for 36th Asean Summit

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte updates the nation on the government’s efforts in addressing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on June 4, 2020. JOEY DALUMPINES/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte will have a “full schedule” on Friday (June 26) for the virtual 36th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit, Malacañang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte will be attending at least six online Asean-related activities.

These activities include the 36th Asean Summit; Asean Leaders Special Session on Women’s Empowerment; Asean Leaders Interface with the Representatives of Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly; Asean Leaders Interface with Representatives of Asean Youth; Asean Leaders Interface with Representatives of Asean Business Advisory Council; and a press conference of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the 36th Asean Summit.

“Busy po si Presidente sa Asean Summit, itong linggong ito (The President will be busy during the Asean Summit this week),” he said in a virtual presser. “It will take the whole day po of Friday. So it’s a full schedule po for the President on Friday.

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Roque said he will also be present during all Asean-related activities.

“Madami pong pag-uusapan, in fact, madaming pagpupulong and nandoon po ako. Hindi ko alam kung natutuwa ako o hindi (There will be many topics. In fact, there will be many meetings and I’ll be there. I don’t know if I should be happy about it or not),” he quipped.

Roque said he has yet to determine if there will be a special session to discuss the Asean-China dialogue which the President chairs.

“Siguro po kabahagi po noong mga binasa kong mga schedule pero wala pong special session para sa pag-uulat on his chairmanship of China-related matters ‘no. Siguro po papasok po iyan doon sa meeting mismo ng mga Heads of State of Asean (Perhaps it is part of the schedule I read but there is no special session for his report on his chairmanship of China-related matters. Perhaps it will be discussed in the meeting of the heads of states of Asean),” he said.

Asean leaders were supposed to hold their 36th annual summit in April this year but the meeting was postponed due to the global threat posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

There was also a proposal from Vietnam, this year’s chair of the 10-man regional bloc, to hold the 36th Asean summit in Hanoi, Vietnam on June 27 and 28.

However, the final decision was to resort to a virtual summit on June 26 as the Covid-19 pandemic remains a threat in the region.

Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.