(Eagle News) –“What’s wrong with my nap?”
President Rodrigo Duterte had this to say following reports of his absence in several events in the 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Singapore.
Apart from the gala dinner, according to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the President skipped the ASEAN-Australia Informal Breakfast Summit, the 20th ASEAN – Republic of Korea Summit, the Working Lunch hosted by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the Second Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit.
The President, however, was represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. in those events, and he attended ASEAN meetings with China, Japan and Russia, the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the ASEAN on Economic Cooperation and the Eurasian Economic Commission, and a bilateral meeting with Singapore.
The Palace had said the President was absent in some events because he took “power naps to catch on sleep.”
“What’s wrong with my nap? You know I don’t eat breakfast and I’m sure you ladies know that,” Duterte said.
He said that while the naps were “still not enough,” they were “enough to sustain my endurance for the last days.”
He replied in the affirmative when asked if he would attend all ASEAN meetings today.
He said he was also slated to meet Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Asked what he would tell the Japanese leader, he said: “Many things. About (the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea), and of course trade and commerce and the (Korean) peninsula impasse…,” he said.
“The President’s constantly punishing work schedule is proof that he is in top physical shape,” Panelo had said, dismissing what he said were “amusing” claims Duterte’s absence in those events had something to do with his health.
