‘Duterte’s dinner with senators private, lively and productive’

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Wednesday described President Rodrigo Duterte’s dinner with several senators as “private and lively.”

“The President had a private and lively dinner with some senators on Tuesday evening, as attested by the social media post of Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito,” Abella said in a statement.

Duterte spent an “intimate” dinner with some members of the Senate majority bloc, Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito posted in social media.

READ: Guess who came to Duterte’s ‘intimate’ dinner?

Aside from Ejercito, 14 other senators were present in the dinner—Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Manny Pacquiao, Richard Gordon, Joel Villanueva, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Sonny Angara and Sherwin Gatchalian.

Senators Loren Legarda, Nancy Binay, Cynthia Villar and Grace Poe were also in attendance.

Abella said that aside from dinner, the President and the senators exchanged views on vital legislative agenda currently pending in the Senate.

“Among the pending bills they discussed were the proposed emergency powers to solve the traffic problem in Metro Manila and the proposed comprehensive tax reform package, which seeks to realign the revenue collection of the government, boost the available income of the taxpayers, while guaranteeing the healthy operation of the government and the country’s inclusive development programs,” he said.

“They likewise talked about the President’s war on drugs and the Senate concurrence to the Philippines’ accession to the Paris Agreement. In all, it was a productive evening,” Abella added.

(Editors note: INQUIRER.net has corrected this story, which erroneously quoted Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella as saying the dinner was “lovely” instead of “lively.”)