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President Rodrigo Duterte will take an 8-seater plane in his trip to Singapore to attend the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders Summit later this week, Malacanang said on Monday.

In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said there will be leaner delegation during Duterte's trip to Singapore.

"It's expensive to charter a plane. And a leaner delegation would mean lesser cost for the taxpayer," he said.

"You know, the private (plane) is an 8-seater plane, so it’s a very small plane. It’s a two-hour flight from Davao to Singapore, so it’s not a long flight. But it’s an 8-seater plane. I think other than SAP (Special Assistant to the President Christopher) Go, all the other people in plane will be staff complement of the President, including a nurse, you know, things like that," he added.

The Philippine Star has reported Duterte would bring with him a leaner delegation to Singapore and he would take a private plane and not the usual chartered Philippine Airlines flight.

Duterte will be joining Southeast Asian leaders in the ASEAN Summit on April 27-28 upon the invitation of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

If Duterte would really have a leaner delegation to Singapore, this would be contrary to his earlier trip to Hong Kong, which apparently became a campaign sortie for the administration PDP-Laban senatorial bets.

But Roque denied the recent meeting of Duterte with the Filipino community in Hong Kong, which was also attended by some possible administration senatorial candidates, became a campaign sortie.

"I don’t think that’s true," he said, recalling Duterte almost forgot to greet him in his speech.

While he has not confirmed his plan to run for the Senate, Duterte previously endorsed Roque as one of his senatorial bets.

During his trip to Singapore, Duterte would be meeting with the Filipino community being "an integral part of every official trip," Roque said.

"What else can I say? Other than it’s very much appreciated by the OFWs, and the President conducts these meetings as a matter of course," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS