PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will skip the summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 24, Malacañang said on Thursday.

Duterte would not be attending the Asean Leaders’ meeting due to “face-to-face” requirement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.

“Ang Presidente po, hindi personally mag-attend. Ang pagkakaintindi ko po diyan, it’s the issue of face-to-face,” Roque said.

The summit will be held as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to grapple the Philippines, as well as the nine other Asean countries.

Apart from Duterte, other Asean leaders would also likely fail to attend the conference in Jakarta because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Roque said.

“Could it be face-to-face or could it be virtual, marami rin pong mga hindi makakarating na heads of states from Asean personally,

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. is representing President Rodrigo Duterte at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Jakarta this week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

In a statement, the DFA said Duterte designated Locsin as his special envoy to the Asean Leaders’ Meeting, which is expected to discuss in a face-to-face meeting the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, on April 24. Philippine News Agency

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