President Rodrigo Duterte Is The Most Traveled President With 21 trips, 17 countries and 77,542 miles

• President Rodrigo Duterte is now the most traveled President in his first year as Philippine president
• According to this report he's traveled over 77,542 miles - made 21 trips and visited 17 countries
• He's also the first Philippine president to have met with all ASEAN-member countries.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made around 21 foreign trips since he was sworn into office.

According to the report by the Inquirer, the commander-in-chief has traveled an estimated 77,542 miles in over 17 countries – making Duterte the most traveled President in his first year in office.

President Diosdado Macapagal had the most number of foreign trips by a President on his first year of office prior to the 1986 Edsa People Power’s Revolution. He had traveled overseas four times.

Post-EDSA Revolution, President Cory Aquino also had traveled four times.

President Fidel Ramos, President Joseph Estrada and President Benigno Aquino III had 8 trips each while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had 11.

Pres. Duterte introduced himself on the international stage when he attended the 28th and 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summits during his trip to Laos back in September.

While at the ASEAN summit he accepted the Philippine chairmanship of the ASEAN for 2017.

The president met with the ASEAN leaders and had a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Prime Minister Abe voiced his sympathy for the families of the victims of the Davao City explosion. He told Duterte: “Mr. President, [you are] quite a famous figure also in Japan and I’m very excited to see you in person.”

All in all, Duterte has the amazing accomplishment of making seven state visits, attending four summits and leaders’ fora. Altogether, the Philippine president has personally met with more than 20 heads of state. State visits are considered the highest form of diplomatic meetings between nations and done at the invitation of the host country.

The president’s debut was not without it’s problems.

Duterte was supposed to meet with then-US President Obama meeting at the sidelines of the ASEAN summit until his harsh language got the better of him. He called the then-US president a ‘son of a b*tch’ when Obama said he’d bring up the issue of human rights.

The White House soon announced that the meeting between both presidents had been canceled after Duterte made his comment.

Still the president has managed to make trips to other countries.

On November 9, Duterte travelled to Thailand to pay his last respects to the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. On November 22, the president traveled to Auckland, New Zealand to pay the Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully a courtesy call.

(via inquirer.net – photo by Sakchai Lalit)

(via radionz.co.nz – photo by Chris Bramwell)

Last May, President Rodrigo Duterte said that the future of the Philippines was in the ASEAN and in Asia on his trip to Cambodia, China and Hong Kong.

(via eaglenews.ph)

At that point, he had become the first Philippine President to have ever visited all ASEAN member-countries; further emphasizing the importance he placed in strengthening relations with our Asian neighbors.

It’s unsure at this point if President Rodrigo Duterte has any plans of traveling to the western countries in Europe or the United States.

In September 2016, a “bad migraine” kept the President from attending his ASEAN Summit meetings with the United States and India. Pres. Duterte had also missed the gala dinner for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders – sending a message to the Peruvian hosts that he was feeling under the weather, last November.

What do you have to say about how well-traveled President Rodrigo Duterte is?

                                                                                     SOURCE: Inquirer