DESPITE President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades against US President Barack Obama, the Philippine government has asked the US to move forward and start supporting Duterte’s bloody war on drug users and dealers, an official said Friday.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said he made the request to US Secretary of State John Kerry and described his meeting with him as “very cordial.
He said he asked Kerry to continue his government’s help to improve the Philippines’ law enforcement agencies and police forces.
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“I have explained to him the need for us, meaning the Philippines and the US, to continue with our joint cooperation particularly in the fight against drug addiction and terrorism,” Yasay said in a statement citing his meeting with Kerry at the sidelines of the Apec summit in Peru.
“We had hoped that they would be able to continue to assist us in our capacity building of our law enforcement agencies and police forces,” Yasay said.
In August, the US announced that the $32-million assistance to the Philippines to promote human rights and security was now subject to “rigorous vetting.” It called on the Philippines to observe the rule of law and due process in its campaign against illegal drugs.
The US has also allotted at least $6.7 million to boost law enforcement in the Philippines. But that aid may be diverted to other countries if Manila and Washington fail to agree on how it will be used.
Yasay said his meeting with Kerry materialized because Kerry wanted to assure the Philippines that the US continued to value its relations with the Philippines.
He said they agreed to move forward despite Duterte’s plan to stop the joint military exercises with the US.
“We had agreed to move forward in so far as our mutual cooperation is concerned, not so much to focus on joint military exercises but more on the areas of joint cooperation on illegal drugs, corruption and even disaster mitigation,” Yasay said. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan
