Duterte to meet with Xi Jinping during China visit in time for FIBA World Cup
PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to China later this month, where he also intends to watch the Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIBA) Basketball World Cup 2019, according to his former special assistant and now Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go.
“Sa ngayon po ay inaayos po ang kanyang planong pagpunta sa bansang Tsina at magkakaroon siya ng meeting sa leader ng bansang Tsina na si (Preparations are underway for Mr. Duterte’s plan to go to China and he will have a meeting with Chinese) President Xi Jinping. Maybe towards the end of the month of August,” Mr. Go said in an interview with reporters aired on ANC on Saturday.
He added, “At plano rin niyang manood ng (And he also plans to watch the) FIBA. World po ito. Bihirang pagkakataon po ito na makasaksi si Pangulo (It’s a rare opportunity for the President to witness this). It’s been a long while po na hindi po tayo nag-qualify (since we last qualified). I think first in 50 years po.”
Mr. Duterte’s presence at FIBA will be in support of the Gilas Pilipinas team.
Gilas Pilipinas made it the FIBA World Cup by way of the back door, securing the best fourth-placed position in the qualifiers. The Philippine team is in Group D along with Serbia, Italy and Angola. — Arjay L. Balinbin
Senate treads carefully on priority bills
THE SENATE will proceed with caution in identifying the 18th Congress’ legislative agenda and priority bills after President Rodrigo R. Duterte vetoed last month the security of tenure bill approved by both chambers of the 17th Congress.
Senate leaders are set to meet with Mr. Duterte’s economic managers Monday in preparation for the full council meeting of the Legislative-Executive Advisory Council (LEDAC), a joint panel intended to ensure close coordination on priority measures between the Executive branch and Congress.
“It all depends on the LEDAC on Monday. We’ll have to wait on the LEDAC on Monday. Alam mo ang mahirap ngayon ingat na ingat na kami dito sa Senado dahil ‘yung ginagawa naming trabaho dito baka ma-veto ng ating Pangulo (You know, what is difficult now is that we are being very careful in the Senate, because the work that we do might be vetoed by the President,” Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri told BusinessWorld in a chance interview Wednesday evening.
“And you know, the request of all the foreign chambers, we want to, although I’m in agreement with many of those, we want to make sure that it is in line also, for example, with the Cabinet secretaries,” he added.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III on Thursday clarified in a mobile phone message to reporters that the meeting on Monday “is not a LEDAC, it’s preparatory meeting to a LEDAC.”
Fourteen local and foreign business groups on July 30 released two lists of legislative measures it submitted to the Office of the President and both houses of Congress. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
