Giovanni Mata hails from Davao City, where current Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was a mayor. Instead, his deadly war on drugs and refusal to brook criticism on human rights have quickly strained relations with the Obama administration.
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Duterte arrived in Jakarta on Thursday, September 8, 2016 after attending the 28th ASEAN Summit held in Vientiane, Laos.
“The Philippines and the U.S. have a longstanding partnership [and] relationship”. That deal awaits ratification in the U.S. Congress, where there is opposition from both parties.
“The concern that I’ve heard is – will it continue?”
Obama was right to respond to Duterte’s intemperate babbling at an Asian summit in Laos by canceling a bilateral meeting with the Philippine leader, who now says he regretted what he said.
Nine Indonesians are among 16 foreign hostages now being held by the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, where Muslim separatist rebellions have raged for decades. Shortly before he left office, Aquino agreed to allow US forces access to five Philippine military bases – opening the way to what would be the most significant American military deployment in the Southeast Asian nation since the USA was forced to close its own military bases there a quarter-century ago.
Obama, whose foreign policy focus has been widely seen as a response to China’s economic and military muscle-flexing across the region, said critics at home were wrong to say it had failed when Asian leaders only wanted more.
Obama is expected to hit the campaign trail with Clinton when he returns to the United States, with voter turnout likely to be a key theme.
Washington recently expressed concern over the killings but Duterte, in typical fashion, later dismissed this and lashed out at USA ambassador to the Philippines, labelling him a “gay son of a whore”. “What came to mind was, they raped her, they lined up”, he said.
The world’s eyes turned to the Philippines this week after President Rodrigo Duterte made disparaging remarks about President Obama during his visit to Asia.
CLARIFYING the insult that made world headlines, foul-mouthed Philippine President Rodrigo explained to Barack Obama that he never called the USA president a “Son of Bitch” earlier this week.
“I do not care about him”.
Duterte is known to be sharply at odds with Obama over whether the USA has the right to meddle in the Philippines’ crime-fighting strategy. According to pool reports, “the exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two”. He added the USA would “keep an eye” on whether the Philippines was living up to that obligation. “Also gave a statement before, several weeks ago, about the human rights violation”.
“The U.S.is the No. 1 human rights violator”.
The leader of the devoutly Catholic nation has reportedly called the Pope a “son of a whore” and called the United States ambassador to the Philippines a “gay ambassador, the son of a whore”.
“We expressed commitment to take all necessary steps to ensure security in the two seas and maritime areas of common interest”, President Duterte told a joint press conference.
“I assured everybody that there are only two options there: We go to fight, which we can not afford at all, or talk”, he added.
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Tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, are unusual at high-level meetings.
