MANILA – Vice President Sara Duterte has invited His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah of Brunei Darussalam to visit the Philippines.
In a Facebook post, she invited him to her hometown of Davao City to sample the durian fruit.
The Vice President shared what she and the Brunei crown prince talked about and posted a photo of them shaking hands upon her arrival.
“Napag-usapan namin ang larangan ng sports at maging ang kontribusyon ng maraming mga Pilipino sa iba’t ibang mga industriya sa Brunei bilang mga masisipag na manggagawang Pilipino (We talked about the field of sports and even the contributions of many Filipinos to the different industries in Brunei as diligent workers),” she wrote.
Brunei is home to over 23,000 Filipinos.
In Brunei, Duterte also visited the Sekolah Rendah Pusar Ulak and Seri Mulia Sarjana International School in her capacity as Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Council President.
As the Philippines’ education chief, the official earlier mentioned the importance of Southeast Asian countries learning from the best practices of each member-state in terms of education strategies.
While in Brunei, she also took time to visit the SEAMEO VOCTECH Regional Centre, as well as witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the SEAMEO VOCTECH and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and SEAMEO VOCTECH and the Philippine Normal University (PNU) as training and research partners.
Duterte also officiated at the formal launching of the SEAMEO VOCTECH website, and led the tree planting — a practice traditionally undertaken by the SEAMEO Council President during a visit.
She also joined the Filipino community in Brunei in commemorating the 125th Philippine Independence.
Describing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as the country’s modern heroes, she thanked them for “laying the foundation for our national stability and economic prosperity so that we may all have a better future.”
Duterte the thanked the Brunei government for “providing the OFWs a second home in the Sultanate.”