Duterte looks forward to working with Trump: Andanar
President Rodrigo Duterte is looking forward to an enhanced relationship between the Philippines and the United States under the leadership of US President-elect Donald Trump.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte extends his congratulations to Trump, who won the US presidential polls after former First Lady Hillary Clinton conceded.
"President Duterte wishes President-elect Trump success in the next four years as Chief Executive and commander-in chief of the US military, and looks forward to working with the incoming administration for enhanced Philippines-US relations anchored on mutual respect, mutual benefit and shared commitment to democratic ideals and the rule of law," Andanar said.
In a speech before the Filipino community in Kuala Lumpur, Duterte said: ‘I don’t want to pick a fight anymore. Trump is there. I would like to congratulate President Trump “
“We are the same. We curse,” said Duterte.
Duterte earlier declared a "separation" of the Philippines from the US in terms of military and commerce. But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippines will push through with an enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the US but will scale down the number of war games.
Duterte has been critical of Washington after outgoing President Barack Obama and the State Department raised concern over the increasing number of slain drug suspects in his administration's war against illegal drugs.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said he thinks Trump and Duterte “can get along well and just within a rhythm.” “What I mean is this is no longer President Obama who commented on the program of our president in a negative way,” said Pimentel in an ambush interview at the Senate.
Before the results of the US elections, US Embassy Charge d'Affairs Michael Klecheski, speaking at the 2016 Election Watch spearheaded by the Embassy, said whoever would be the next president of America will see its relationship with the Philippines remaining strong
"Obviously, we can’t say what will be the policy of the next administration. That’s impossible. But what we can say with great confidence is that our relationship over the years, over the decades has been extremely strong, has been extremely close," he said.
Klecheski said the two countries have been partners, allies and friends, citing a large number of Americans in the Philippines and the Filipino-Americans living in the US.
He said US Ambassador-designate Sung Kim is expected to arrive in the Philippines before the end of the year.
He said Kim is "excited" to begin his tour here. But he clarified that it was not intentional on the part of the US to designate an ambassador who has an Asian root.
“That decision was made quite a few months ago. It’s really is not a deliberate decision,” Klecheski said.
However, former Philippine Ambassador to US Jose Cuisia Jr. said a Trump presidency is a concern, describing the US president-elect as "thin-skinned" similar to Duterte.
"He (Trump) tends to be more isolationist. He wants to focus on US more inward-looking. He does not want the US to get into free trade agreements, which is not good for the global economy because US is the largest economy in the world today. They should be the leader," he said.
"If they are not willing to have free trade agreement, then that's gonna be to the disadvantage of the entire global economy," Cuisia added.
Since Duterte and Trump appeared to be thin-skinned, the two leaders might clash, he said. However, he also did not discount the possibility that they might also agree with each other because "they have some commonalities." Celerina Monte/DMS
