VP camp: Palace retracted New Year's toast invite to Leni

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday revealed that Malacañang retracted its invitation to President Rodrigo Duterte's first New Year’s vin d’honneur.

Robredo's spokesperson Georgina Hernandez said that the Office of the Vice President received an invitation to the vin d'honneur through email on Dec. 28, 2016.

"On January 4, Malacañang called the Office to retract the invitation, stating that the guest list was limited," Hernandez said in a statement.

Past presidents usually always held the traditional vin d'honneur on New Year's Day but Duterte opted to take two days of from work.

The vin d’honneur is the practice of an official reception to mark the New Year with the president and key government officials and members of the diplomatic corps at Malacañan.

Duterte to Diplomatic Corps: Kampai! pic.twitter.com/9mFR0UTQ6j

— christina mendez (@xtinamen) January 11, 2017

Next to Duterte, Robredo is second in the order of precedence among ceremonially ranking government officials.

In his speech before the diplomatic corps at the vin d'honneur reception, Duterte welcomed positive change for the country and for the Filipino people.

The president vowed to continue his anti-narcotics campaign this year.