Is the third time the charm for United States President Donald Trump who again invited President Duterte to visit America?
On Sunday, Malacañang said Washington sent a letter to Duterte on January 9, reiterating its invitation for him to attend the scheduled meeting of Trump with other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on March 14 in Las Vegas.
“The invitation was first conveyed during the Asean-US meeting at the Asean Summit and related summits in Bangkok last November,” Malacañang said in a statement.
“The invitation of the US came despite a recent US legislation banning entry of all Philippine officials supposedly behind the arrest and continued detention of Sen. Leila de Lima,” it added.
Presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said Duterte has yet to issue a statement if he will accept or decline the offer as of Sunday afternoon.
Duterte also has a long-standing invitation from Trump to visit the US, which has been made since April 2017.
Malacañang said the meeting between Duterte and Trump, if it pushes through, “is expected to reaffirm the long-standing alliance between the Philippines and the US.”
Washington has been trying to improve its relations with members of the Asean regional bloc after it was “snubbed” in the last Asean Summit in 2019.
Of the 10 Asean leaders, seven of them, including Duterte, were not able to attend the session with the US at the Asean summit for various reasons.
Some observers attributed it to Trump’s failure to attend the Asean for the second time in a row.