Duterte all set for debut on int’l stage at ASEAN Summit in Laos

By Genalyn D. Kabiling, Roy C. Mabasa, and Elena L. Aben President Duterte will make his debut on the international stage when he attends a regional summit in Laos this week even after a deadly explosion in a Davao City night market. The President is scheduled to depart Davao City on Monday afternoon and has designated Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea as government caretaker, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar. “The President will push through with his visit to Laos on Monday,” Andanar said in Filipino over government radio yesterday. “Executive Secretary Bingbong Medialdea will be the caretaker office while the President is away,” he said. Duterte is expected to join other world leaders for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and related meetings in Vientiane on September 6 to 8. It will be the first international journey of the President since his assumption to office last June. [...]