United States President Donald Trump made no comment about President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs when the two met for a dialogue on Monday, but he did assure Duterte that he has an ally and a friend.
This was according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, during a press conference at the International Media Center in Pasay City later that day.
Asked if the human rights violations in the Philippines was raised in the dialogue, Roque said it was not.
Rather, there were “clarifications on the number of drug dealers that have been apprehended since the war on drugs was started,” and “on whether or not the Philippines has a similar drug menace as Central America,” Roque said. “To which the President (Duterte) responded, in some areas of the Philippines it is as bad as some areas in Central America.”
He noted that Duterte also explained his war against drugs “at length”.
“And from the body language of the U.S. President, he seemed to be in agreement,” Roque said.
“Many times he was nodding as the President (Duterte) was explaining the war on drugs, especially the ill effects of drugs and claiming that the special rapporteur on extralegal killings even brought to the Philippines a so-called American expert to say that drugs is not dangerous to human health. President Duterte, of course, produced again a publication of the UN where the UN specifically pointed out the ill effects of the different forms of drugs including shabu,” Roque added.
Asked if the issue of North Korea, which has been conducting weapons tests and boosting its nuclear program over the past months, was discussed, Roque said it was not raised in the meeting between the two Presidents.
Rather, Trump brought up the topic of trade. The Philippines’ side expressed its hope that a free trade agreement between the two can be concluded, pointing out that if the U.S. can have FTAs with countries that were not its allies during World War II “and henceforth,” then there is every reason for the U.S. to conclude an FTA with its longtime ally.
On the rapport between the two leaders, Roque said, “I would say it is very good.”
He also confirmed that Trump did ask Duterte to sing during the gala dinner for leaders of ASEAN and its dialogue partners on Sunday.
Roque said Trump had noticed Duterte humming while Pilita Corrales sang “Ikaw”, which was why Trump “encouraged” Duterte to take the microphone and sing.
“The relationship appears to be very warm and very friendly. They’ve been very candid in their dealings and it’s very apparent that both of them have a person who they consider as not their best friend. They have similar feelings towards former US president Barack Obama,” Roque added.
As to the change in Duterte’s demeanor towards the U.S. from last year, Roque said, “The Philippine President reiterated that the Philippine-US alliance has always been very strong and very important. He did acknowledge that there were sour points in the relationship. And the sour points were statements made by the former U.S. President Obama on the administration of President Duterte.
“Now I think President Trump addressed this by (assuring) the Philippine President that he has always been an ally of the Philippine President since he was elected into office. So I would say that it would be a marked difference between the relationship between the administration of President Trump and President Duterte.”
