President Rodrigo Duterte left on Thursday evening for Singapore via a "borrowed" private plane.

This was a departure from his previous foreign trips where the government chartered Philippine Airline flights.

"If you now want to know what is my airplane, it's there in the front. It’s a jet which I borrowed but I will have to pay for the fuel and the pilots," Duterte said in his departure speech in Davao City.

He said he also hired a private stewardess.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier said Duterte would have a lean delegation and would take a private plane when he attends the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders' Summit in Singapore to "save money."

In ASEAN, Duterte said he would push for further protection of migrant workers.

"What would interest me really there is articulate the plight of migrant workers," he said.

The Philippines is embroiled in a diplomatic spat with Kuwait due to the alleged abuses of Filipino domestic workers in the Gulf state. Celerina Monte/DMS