Palace officials upbeat over Duterte-Trump phone call

MANILA, Philippines — Top government officials are upbeat over the impending phone conversation between President Duterte and United States President Donald Trump, seeing it as a move toward strengthening bilateral relations.

A ranking Palace official said Trump may reiterate his invitation to Duterte to visit the US when they talk over the phone “anytime soon.” 

“President Trump has a good relationship with President Duterte, especially for his (Duterte’s) character and strong leadership. And also, President Trump looks forward to see him (at the) ASEAN (-US special summit), especially at this time,” a Malacañang insider told The STAR in an interview over the weekend. 

It was Panelo who first told reporters last Friday that a phone conversation between the two presidents is set to take place “soon” amid high-level discussions in Manila for the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US.

 Palace sources welcomed the announcement, saying it would be a good time for Trump and Duterte to talk, and even consider the US leader’s invitation to the US-ASEAN special summit in Las Vegas, Nevada next month. 

Panelo had noted that Duterte and Trump are “good friends,” citing no problems if the two leaders would talk to each other over the phone while the fate of the VFA hangs in the balance.

Duterte has regarded Trump as a “good friend,” praising him every now and then.

During their previous phone conversation in early 2017, Trump had reciprocated the goodwill, congratulating Duterte for his “unbelievable job” in addressing the illegal drugs problem in the country.

Trump also made good his promise to attend the ASEAN-US special summit when the Philippines hosted it in November 2017. In their meeting in Manila, the US leader also lauded his “great relationship” with Duterte. 

When the two leaders talk again, Panelo could only guess that Duterte may congratulate Trump for overcoming the challenge of impeachment, which was recently junked by the US Senate. 

But whether or not the impending phone conversation would touch on the VFA, Malacañang officials asked by The STAR said they would rather not speculate.  

Panelo has taken a lot of flak over the weekend for telling media that Duterte had already given orders to transmit a notice of termination of the VFA to the US government.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said he has not received any order to relay instruction to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., as Panelo had claimed. 

Trump’s invitation last November to ASEAN leaders, including Duterte, came ahead of the approval of proposals in the US Congress to ban Philippine officials involved in extrajudicial killings and what US senators have described as “wrongful detention” of opposition Sen. Leila de Lima. 

De Lima has been in jail for three years over drug charges, with the court trial hitting a snag.

Since inviting ASEAN leaders to the US, the US Senate called on Trump to deny entry to and block all US-based transactions in property and interests of “members of the security forces and officials of the Government of the Philippines responsible for extrajudicial killings... and responsible for orchestrating the arrest and prolonged detention of Senator De Lima.”

This is in line with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, an American law which allows Washington to punish foreign officials implicated in “significant corruption or gross violations of human rights” in any part of the world.

Under the law, the US President shall decide on requests to impose sanctions on human rights violators and corrupt foreigners within 120 days.

While Duterte crafted a more independent foreign policy towards the East, the US continued to woo the Philippines as one of its longtime defense allies in Asia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited in March 2018 and affirmed that “any armed attack on any Philippines forces, aircraft, or public vessels in the South China Sea will trigger the mutual defense obligations under Article 4, of our Mutual Defense Treaty.”

Months before Pompeo’s visit, the US returned to the Philippines the bronze Balangiga bells looted by US troops during the Philippine-American War more than a century ago after decades of pressure for their return.

Duterte had called for the return of the bells in one of his speeches in 2017, when he also started shifting foreign policy toward China.