Philippine-US ties reboot under Trump ‘a big possibility’

MANILA, Philippines – A reboot of the ties between Manila and Washington, which were strained by differences over the Philippines’ brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, is highly possible under US president-elect Donald Trump, Malacañang said yesterday. 

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said there are indications that President Duterte and Trump, who had a brief phone conversation Friday night, would get along well. 

“The conversation between President Duterte and president-elect Donald Trump went very well and it showed that there is a big possibility that we will have a reboot of relationship with the United States,” Andanar said in an interview with radio station dzRB.

“And from what President Duterte said, it seems that he can get along well with president-elect Donald Trump and again President Donald Trump wished President Duterte well in his campaign against illegal drugs,” he added.   

Andanar, however, could not provide details when asked to elaborate on the possible rebooting of relationship between the two countries. 

“I cannot preempt the President with regard to the rebooting of our relationship with the United States. But it’s a good question because there are so many aspects in our relationship – there’s the military aspect, the economic aspect, there is also the people-to-people, the exchanges, education, et cetera,” he said.   

“I will leave everything to the President, to the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs to decide which aspects that our country can reboot with the United States,” he added. 

Andanar said Trump had also vowed to support Duterte’s anti-drug campaign and to respect the Philippines’ sovereignty. 

The Philippines and the United States are traditional allies and treaty partners but their relationship has been rocky since Duterte assumed power five months ago. 

Duterte threw insults and profanities at outgoing US President Barack Obama, the US State Department, the European Union, the United Nations and human rights groups for criticizing his war on drugs linked to the summary killings of more than 4,000 drug suspects. 

During his visit to China last October, Duterte announced the Philippines’ “separation” from the US in terms of military and economy, but his officials later clarified that Manila is not cutting ties with Washington.

According to officials, the President was just stressing the need for the Philippines to pursue a more independent foreign policy and to seek friendships with other countries, including China and Russia. 

While Duterte was antagonistic towards Obama, he was diplomatic towards Trump, who defeated former US state secretary Hillary Clinton during the Nov. 8 presidential race. Obama supported Clinton.

“I can always be a friend of anybody especially presidents, chief executive of another country. He (Trump) does not call me out over my campaign about human rights,” Duterte said in an interview last Nov. 15.

On Friday, Duterte and Trump had a seven-minute phone conversation that covered several topics, including the Philippines’ war on illegal drugs. 

After the conversation, Duterte expressed confidence that Trump would be a “good president for the United States of America.” 

“He (Trump) wishes me well in my campaign and he said that… well we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way. And he wishes us well. And I said that, well, we assured him of our ties with America,” Duterte said. 

“I could sense a good rapport, an animated president-elect Trump. And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem. He understood the way we are handling it and I said that there’s nothing wrong in protecting a country,” he added. 

“It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country.”  

During their conversation, Trump invited Duterte to visit the US, particularly Washington and New York. Duterte also asked the next US president to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meet to be hosted by the Philippines next year.

Andanar could not say when would be Duterte’s visit to the US or whether the Philippine leader would push through with the trip.