Malacañang said yesterday President Donald Trump’s standing invitation for President Duterte to visit the United States was a contradiction to the provision of their new law which denies the entry of those supposedly behind the arrest and detention of Sen. Leila M. de Lima.
“Exactly. That is a contradiction. There is a standing invitation. Kung totoo yun eh ‘di sana hindi na,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
Trump signed on Monday the United States’ 2020 national budget which included the provision that bars the entry of those behind De Lima’s wrongful detention. De Lima named President Duterte as one of those behind her imprisonment.
According to Panelo, Duterte was not worried about the new US law, saying he did not want to go to the United States in the first place.
“Na kay Presidente yun, ‘di ba sabi ni Presidente, ‘Ayoko naman pumunta dun in the first place,’” he said. “Kung ayaw niya nga pumunta, how can he be worried?” he added.
Duterte has repeatedly said that he had no intention of visiting the United States as President, especially after former United States Barack Obama urged him to the drug war “the right way.”
Malacañang had earlier explained that one of the reasons behind Duterte’s hesitation to visit the US was because of the long flight and the cold weather. The President, however, was able to endure temperature as low as 4°C when he went to Moscow and Sochi in Russia last October. (Argyll Geducos)