THE United States’ new ambassador to Manila, Sung Kim, got a taste of President Rodrigo Duterte’s acerbic tongue as he continued to abuse the US, calling it a “land of hypocrisy,” for criticizing his bloody war on drugs.
In a speech late Monday night, Duterte railed against the decision of US aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation to defer naming the Philippines for a second grant over his deadly war on drugs.
“Come on, guys. Shut up. I do not need your assistance,” Duterte told an audience that included Ambassador Kim, members of the diplomatic corps, and the business community in Malacañang.
“Millennium Challenge? 400 million? China is going to release to me 15 billion. Go home. I do not need your aid.”
Duterte said he was insulted when the US aid agency deferred its assistance to the Philippines merely because of its concerns over the drug-related deaths attending his war against drugs.
“With due respect to the Ambassador of the United States, [when] you’re dealing with Asians, be careful of your language,” Duterte said.
“You cannot do that to the Japanese and to the Koreans. They feel insulted,” Duterte said.
“When you said, ‘We will not give you [aid] because of these [drug-related killings, we] were pictured as someone starving to death. ‘You’re dead because you’re hungry. We don’t care if you’re dead because of starvation.’ It’s actually a slur.
“It’s actually at the end of the day, I would say to you, it is dignity. Just because there are human rights violations you do not say that you will never have the aid. We do not need it.”
Duterte said the Filipinos’ dignity was hurt when the US had to cut its assistance because of the alleged human rights violations perpetrated in nearly six months since he assumed office.
“Just because there are human rights violation, you would say you wouldn’t have this. We do not need it. Why do you have to say, ‘They will lose assistance?’ It is actually an insult.
“America is a land of hypocrisy. There are 40,000 Americans killed every year, drug-related.”
Kim, who was present at the event, was seen smiling awkwardly while the President was ranting against the Americans.
Duterte likewise blasted the United States, the former colonial master of the Philippines, for “living [off] the fat of the land.”
“You the United States were here, they were lord over it for 50 years and lived up with the fat of the land. But there they went out, it’s still, it was still a unitary type. And to hear them say, ‘we will cut your aid if these things happen again.’ Go on, shut up, shut up.”
The President also told America to be careful in addressing other countries, especially those from Asia, adding that the complaints against his bloody war on drugs should be filed at the United Nations.
After Duterte’s lengthy rant, Kim was seen exiting the Rizal Hall quietly despite a photo opportunity with the President.