President Rodrigo Duterte said Senator Manny Pacquiao should study first foreign policy as he has "a very shallow knowledge" of it.

Duterte made the statement in response to Pacquiao's previous criticisms over the recent rotational brownouts that hit Luzon and the seeming lack of action of the administration on the Chinese incursion in the West Philippine Sea.

"So, even Senator Pacquiao said, 'I'm fed up....' We'll if it's about foreign policy, I would not want to degrade him but next time he should...study thoroughly first before you enter...," Duterte said during the interview of Davao-based evangelist and his friend Apollo Quiboloy aired on Tuesday night.

He said Pacquiao seemed to have "a very shallow knowledge" of foreign policy.

Duterte and Pacquiao both belong to rulig PDP-Laban, the former being the chairman and the latter, the president.

Duterte insisted that it is his foreign policy to be neutral.

"I am neutral in the sense that I do not favor one country for the other nor would I allow any of those countries to be in the Philippines to establish the military bases," he said.

Some quarters have been criticizing Duterte for allegedly being soft on China as far as the West Philippine Sea issue is concerned.

On the other hand, Duterte has not been so friendly with the United States as he even ordered the abrogation of the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement. The termination process of the military treaty, however, has been halted in the meantime due to coronavirus pandemic.

"Except America now. But America must come clean. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS