PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday repeated his disapproval of outgoing United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg who, he claims, has been meddling in his affairs.
He particularly cited the controversial remarks he made over a rape case during the campaign and which Goldberg had criticized.
“Let it be because what I said about the ambassador is true,” Duterte said.
He had called Goldberg a homosexual and an annoying person last week.
He said Goldberg should have made his remarks during the campaign in which he said he wanted to have been the first to rape an Australian woman who was raped and murdered in a prison riot in 1989.
“You should not have meddled. That is our business. It was the campaign season,” Duterte said.
Goldberg had seconded Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely’s statements over the social networking site Twitter that rape and murder should never be trivialized, which did not sit well with Duterte, who was then mayor of Davao City.
Duterte even dared the United States and Australia to cut off diplomatic ties with the Philippines after their respective envoys commented on his “rape joke.”
US State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau, however, summoned Filipino charge d’affaires Patrick Chuasoto to explain the “inappropriate comments” made by Duterte.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the ties between the Philippines and the United States remained strong despite the issue.