Trump lauds Du30 grisly drug drive?

IT IS hard to swallow the Malacañang line that US President-elect Donald Trump praised or endorsed President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war that has killed some 5,000 suspects in the past five months.

We will believe the story only if the incoming US President himself confirms having told Duterte he was waging his bloody narcotics campaign “the right way” – or if Malacañang or the White House releases the unedited transcript of the conversation.

Even the duration of the seven-minute Duterte-Trump chat is being massaged to the last second, with some Palace types rounding it up to 10 minutes, presumably on the theory that the time Trump had devoted to it indicates how high he held the caller in esteem.

(During a past unlamented regime, a call at the Oval Office was rated by, among other details, how long the US President chatted with the state visitor from Manila. So the caller would keep the conversation running while an aide recorded the time lapse for the press release.)

Trump is obviously on a PR offensive. A transcript will show also how many times he used such fulsome adjectives as “great” and “fantastic.” The descriptions roll out of his mouth so profusely that they sound like hardly meaning anything.

Before Duterte’s boys start packing their travel bags, they should also be advised that when heads of government talk/meet as in summits and phone chats, it is de rigueur to invite their counterpart to pay a visit naman – and they respond with a reciprocal invitation.

If all government leaders took seriously the courtesy invitation, Trump would probably be busy acting as grand receptionist at least twice a week, leaving him not much time to running the US government and his global business empire.

After he put down the hot line Friday evening, Duterte excitedly told all and sundry that Trump had asked him to inform the tycoon whenever the Filipino executive was in New York.

This political gesture reminds us of a former Makati mayor then planning to run for president who always told fellow local executives from the provinces to make sure they called him when they were in the big city so he could attend to their requirements. It almost worked.

The Philippine president made the regulation pre-arranged call Friday evening to congratulate Trump on his victory. Trump in turn reportedly wished him “success” in his controversial crackdown on drug dealers and users.

Duterte recalled in a statement: “He (Trump) was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well... in my campaign and he said that... we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way.” An aide described the chat as “very engaging, animated.”

On the other hand, a statement of Trump’s team said Duterte congratulated the US president-elect and that the two men “noted the long history of friendship and cooperation between the two nations, and agreed that the two governments would continue to work together closely on matters of shared interest and concern.” The statement, however, did not mention the invitation.

• Duterte, Trump may yet click together

WHATEVER was said, the conversation is likely to help warm relations that have gone almost frigid after US President Barack Obama criticized Duterte’s drug campaign that many observers have assailed as violating human rights.

Duterte called that foreign meddling, going to the extent of telling Obama to “go to hell,” calling him a “son of a bitch,” and railing against US “hypocrisy” and “bullying.”

It appears from reports from Washington that some Trump’s initiatives in reaching out to world leaders of various persuasions – even of figures antagonistic to the US – is mostly on his own without the usual requisite consultations with the State department.

As in the last presidential campaign where Trump operated often without the blessings of the moguls of the Grand Old Party, his diplomatic moves define a set of priorities and alliances according to his best lights in consultation only with his adult children and close advisers.

Any attempt of his to reset relations with the Philippines under Duterte is more of a recognition of the security and market value of the former American colony, glossing over the anti-US utterances and moves of the trash-talking Duterte.

If Obama finds Duterte “colorful” (his polite way of saying he is “bastos”), Trump may find him at least interesting as he displays some streaks similar to his own political iconoclasm.

The former mayor of Davao City does not seem to mind cutting diplomatic corners as long as he gets results. We note, for instance, that he did not bother to announce his appointing at least two ambassadors to the US even before they were nominated to the receiving government.

Duterte is either unaware of, or does not care about, the practice of waiting for an agrément so a simultaneous announcement can be made of the new ambassador, but this is Davao’s Digong at work.

His unique approach may explain the recent appointment of multimillionaire real estate tycoon Jose Antonio, who bought the rights to name a new office tower in Manila “Trump Towers,” as special envoy despite the confusing appointment of two other ambassadors to the US.

While Antonio’s entering the picture may have been dictated by the desire for quick results under the incoming Trump administration, it may call attention to disturbing questions of conflict involving the US billionaire’s global business mixing with purely state affairs.

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