Dislike for Obama unite Trump and Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — If there is one thing that President Rodrigo Duterte and his American counterpart Donald Trump share, it is their dislike for former US President Barack Obama, the Philippine leader's spokesman said on Monday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described Duterte's rapport with Trump as "very good," in stark contrast to the chief executive's frosty relationship with Obama.

"I would say [their rapport] was very good," Roque told journalists at the International Media Center in Pasay City following a bilateral meeting between Duterte and Trump and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-US meeting after it.

"The relation appears to be very warm and very friendly. They've been candid in their dealings," Duterte's spokesman added.

Duterte and Obama had a tense relationship during the latter's final months in office after the then American leader called on the Philippine chief executive to observe the law and uphold human rights in conducting his so-called war on drugs.

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Duterte, who has taken criticisms of his brutal anti-narcotics campaign personally, did not like the remark and blasted Obama. He called the former US leader "son of a b****."

This prompted the US to call off a meeting between the two leaders scheduled in Laos, and Duterte, who has usually given profanity-laced remarks in public, continued with his anti-American rhetoric. At one point, the Philippine leader announced during a visit to China the separation of Manila from Washington and the expulsion of American troops in Mindanao.

The slide in the relationship between the US and its former colony appeared to have been arrested when Trump, who is in the Philippine capital for the ASEAN summit and its related meetings, congratulated Duterte on his drug war in a telephone conversation early this year.

READ: A year of colorful insults

According to Roque, their dislike for Obama was a unifying point for the two leaders.

"It's apparent that both of them have a person who they consider as not their best friend. They have similar feelings toward former US President Barack Obama," the president's spokesperson said.

Roque also admitted during the press conference that Obama's critical remarks over Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs were a "sour point" in the two countries' bilateral relationship.

READ:  Duterte regrets 'son of a bitch' remark on Obama

The alliance has since been repaired since Trump won the presidency in November last year, according to Roque.

"(The Philippine-US alliance has been) very strong and very important. There were sour points in the relationship, and the sour points were statements made by the former US President Obama on the administration President Duterte," Roque told local and international reporters.

"I think President Trump addressed this by reassuring President Duterte that he has always been an ally of the Philippine president since he was elected to office," said Roque, signaling that the relationship between the treaty allies is headed for a better footing under the current US administration.

Trump has shown a tendency to ignore issues of human rights of world leaders to achieve practical ends, a reversal of previous American policy to push leaders over their rights records. The US needs Duterte, ASEAN's chair this year, to support a slew of strong sanctions and to continue pressing Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.

READ:  Trump unlikely to rebuke Duterte for drug war killings

As a sign of the two's improving relationship, Duterte acquiesced to Trump's request for the Philippine leader to belt a local hit, an event confirmed by Roque himself.

"Let me make the very important confirmation that President Trump did ask President Duterte to sing. It was apparently noticed by US President Trump that the president was humming when Pilita Corales was singing, 'Ikaw,' and the president encouraged him to sing, and the president did," he said.

READ: Duterte tells Obama 'you can go to hell' in new tirade