P277 M for Rody’s trips justified – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - The government spent a total of P277 million for President Duterte’s visits to 12 countries last year, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the Philippines gained from the visits because these led to agreements and investment pledges that could generate thousands of jobs for Filipinos.

“We’re glad to report the windfall of President Duterte’s official foreign visits last year. The President made a total of seven foreign trips, visiting a total of 12 countries since he took office. These visits incurred a total of about P277 million in expenses, which included airfare, charter lease and others,” Abella said in a press briefing.

“These official trips are part of the President’s obligation to maintain and strengthen diplomatic ties with neighboring countries and has clinched numerous economic investments and commitments amounting to billions of pesos and generate thousands of jobs in the following years,” he added.

Abella did not provide a breakdown of the expenses.

Yesterday’s press briefing marked the first time the Duterte administration issued information about the expenses incurred for foreign trips. The previous administration usually released the cost of foreign trips on departure day itself.

The President’s first foreign trip was to Laos, where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last September. He also went to Peru last November to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meet.

Other countries he visited include China, Japan, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Duterte also had two brief stopovers last November.

He passed through Thailand to honor the late Thai King Bhumibol before visiting Malaysia. He also had a layover in New Zealand after attending the APEC summit in Peru.

Overall, the President visited a dozen countries in seven foreign trips. This means that the average expenditure for each foreign trip was P39.57 million.

“The visit to China, however, resulted in more than 20 agreements with an estimated total value of $4 billion and will generate over 100,000 jobs,” Abella said, adding that the agreements include a grant for drug rehabilitation facilities and for law enforcement-related equipment.

The trip to Japan yielded about $1.85 billion worth of investment commitments that would generate about 250,000 jobs in the next few years, he also said.

“There were also about five government-to-government agreements signed, including the exchange of note and agreements up to $184 million,” Abella added.

“Moreover, 15 pipeine loans were acquired by several national agencies during the visit in Japan, which include the construction of a subway from North Avenue to Taguig and a high-speed railway from Manila to Clark.” 

Duterte is scheduled to visit Myanmar and Thailand next month.