MANILA, Philippines — The Malacañang on Friday said President Rodrigo Duterte will officially decline the invitation to visit the United States.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters in a press briefing: “He said he would reply to the letter invitation and decline it.”

Earlier in the briefing, Panelo announced that the president ordered a ban against US Sens. Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Patrick Leahy (Vermont) who proposed the amendment to deny the entry to the US of Philippine officials implicated in the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima.

Panelo, however, explained that Duterte’s decision to decline the invitation has no relation to Trump’s approval of the passage of the US 2020 budget bill. Duterte also bear no ill feelings towards the American president, Panelo added.

“He said he never intended to visit the US ever since,” the Palace mouthpiece also said, adding that Duterte had “repeatedly” told him that.

The US budget bill included a provision which touches on Financial Management and Budget Transparency.

The said provision includes a clause on Prohibition on Entry that specified against “foreign government officials about whom the Secretary has credible information (sic.) have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment of: [...] Senator Leila de Lima who was arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”

Trump has been inviting Duterte to the White House since April 2017.

Last March, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin said: “He (Duterte) has a very strong affection for President Trump and the exact details, the arrangements will be made. Specific details will have to wait for the end of the elections because that’s important.”

READ: Duterte might visit US after midterm elections

Locsin was then referring to the 2019 midterm elections. — Kristine Joy Patag