Rody skips Asean meeting with UN, sends Yasay

VIENTIANE – President Duterte skipped the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting with the United Nations late yesterday afternoon and sent Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. as his representative.

The Palace said the President decided not to attend the ASEAN- UN meet so he could pay a courtesy call on Laos President Bounnhang Vorachith.

The ASEAN-UN meet came before a gala dinner where Duterte was expected to sit between US President Barack Obama and UN chief Ban Ki-moon. At the gala dinner, it was expected that Duterte would have the chance to talk informally with Obama. Washington cancelled Tuesday’s bilateral meeting between Obama and Duterte following the latter’s threat to curse the US leader to his face if he raised the issue of human rights violations in the conduct of Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.

“Presidents Duterte and Obama will be seated next to each other which, expectedly, will focus all cameras on them to deliver to the world the encounter of the two. Incidentally, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also seated on the other side of President Duterte,” a statement released early yesterday by Malacañang read.

The gala dinner was ongoing as of press time.

Presidential communications secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte would sit beside Obama and Ban because the Philippines will host the ASEAN meetings next year.

When asked whether he thinks there would be awkward moments during the dinner, Andanar replied: “They are used to that.”

Duterte has lambasted both Ban and Obama for supposedly interfering in the country’s affairs. still

Last July, Ban scored Duterte for allegedly condoning extrajudicial killings, calling it “illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms.”

The UN has also expressed concerns over the killing of suspected drug personalities in the Philippines.

Duterte dismissed the UN’s remarks as “stupid” and even threatened to pull the Philippines out of the international body. The President later retracted his statement, saying it was just a joke.

The US has also expressed “deep concern” over the killings and called on the Philippines to respect human rights and observe the rule of law. The statement ticked off Duterte, who responded by challenging the US to explain the killing of African Americans by law enforcers.

“The Philippines is not a vassal state. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States,” Duterte said last Monday.