Philippine president Duterte wants to kick US SF troops out of Southern Phil.

[CougarKing]

Déjà vu of 1992: this is more to indicate that Duterte is a puppet of China. A Chinese sponsored railway for his constituents in the South is his price for giving up the Philippines' South China Sea claims and for taking an anti-US stance.

Reuters

Duterte says he wants U.S. special forces out of southern Philippines
Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:56pm EDT

By Manuel Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called for the withdrawal of U.S. special forces troops from a group of islands in the southern Philippines, saying their presence could complicate offensives against Islamist militants notorious for beheading Westerners.

Duterte, who was in the spotlight last week over a televised tirade against the United States and President Barack Obama, said the Americans still in Mindanao were high-value targets for the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf militants as counter-insurgency operations intensify.

"They have to go," Duterte said in a speech during an oath-taking ceremony for new officials. "I do not want a rift with America. But they have to go."


(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

If that is the case why not close all PI bases to the USAF and USN ? My view on Duterte is that he is evolving into a dictator using his anti-drug campaign to silence the opposition.It is not in the PI interest to cede their claims in the South China Sea.Definitely bears watching.

 

[Lightguns]

Ultimately, he is the elected executive of his country and he is responsible to his people for his decisions. 

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I think he wants to really put the boots to the Islamic insurgency once and for all and does not want non-controllable witnesses.

 

[Altair]

I think he wants to really put the boots to the Islamic insurgency once and for all and does not want non-controllable witnesses.

That would be nice.

 

[jollyjacktar]

I think he wants to really put the boots to the Islamic insurgency once and for all and does not want non-controllable witnesses.

If he gives them the same attention he's given to drug dealers, I'm not one to object if he turns it into a modern example of Carthage.

 

[Jarnhamar]

using his anti-drug campaign to silence the opposition.

Yea you really gotta watch out for that whole war on drugs thing.

 

[tomahawk6]

Yea you really gotta watch out for that whole war on drugs thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/28/asia/philippines-voices-drugs-w

Janie says that President Duterte's rhetoric has created a climate where the cops feel they can act without fear of retribution, official or otherwise.
"I feel afraid and very scared when I hear the president say they will kill drug users. Because we will have no justice at all," she says.
"We can put the users in rehabilitation, right? They shouldn't punish (them) by taking their lives."
She says that her brother stopped using meth long ago. "My brother had no enemies. He's a very kind person."
The perpetrators were police officers who were involved with meth trade themselves, Janie insists.

 

[CougarKing]

Here's more from today that shows that Duterte is a pro-China puppet with this complete about-face in relations with the US:

Bloomberg

Duterte Seeks Arms From China, Ends Joint Patrols With U.S.
September 13, 2016

In a televised speech Tuesday before military officers in Manila, Duterte said that two countries -- which he didn’t identify -- had agreed to give the Philippines a 25-year soft loan to buy military equipment. Later, he said that Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and “technical people” in the armed forces would visit China and Russia “and see what’s best.” ...

On Tuesday, Duterte said the Philippines needs propeller-driven planes that it can use against insurgents and fight terrorists in Mindanao. He said he wanted to buy arms “where they are cheap and where there are no strings attached and it is transparent.”

“I don’t need jets, F-16 -- that’s of no use to us,” Duterte said. “We don’t intend to fight any country.”

Aside from the Chinese-sponsored railway mentioned earlier, here's more of his conciliatory tone toward China even as he continues his anti-US tirade:

Interaksyon (news site for Philippines' Channel 5)

Duterte thanks China for offer to build rehab centers
By: Tricia Aquino, InterAksyon | Mia Reyes, News5
September 9, 2016 2:32 PM


(UPDATE - 3:30 p.m.) MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday in Jakarta thanked China for its offer to build rehabilitation centers for drug users in the Philippines, in the face of critics who do nothing but lambaste his war on drugs.

Speaking before representatives of the Filipino community in Indonesia, where he is on a state visit, Duterte noted that China "offered to help and build the rehab [facility]."

"I think they have started in Magsaysay. They're bringing the materials there already," he added.

(...SNIPPED)

He has also been more friendly to the leftist rebels of the New People's Army (NPA) and imposed a ceasefire between them and the govt., even as he seeks tougher measures to annihilate the other insurgency, namely the Abu Sayyaf extremist Islamist group.

Last year, he said in a rally: Mabuhay ang NPA (Long Live the NPA!) Other indicators of his having NPA support include the fact that the Filipino communist leader Jose Maria Sison has returned from exile in the Netherlands. Duterte has even offered cabinet posts to prominent leftists.

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Duterte cheers rebels: ‘Mabuhay ang NPA’

    November 9th, 2015

    DAVAO CITY—Mayor Rodrigo Duterte admitted calling out “Mabuhay ang NPA” during the release of two government soldiers in the mountains of Laak, Compostela Valley, on Tuesday.

    The communist New People’s Army (NPA) had seized Pfc. Niño Alavaro and Pfc. Marjon Añover at a guerrilla checkpoint in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, on Sept. 30 and held them for investigation for “crimes against humanity” and “counter-revolutionary activities.”

    “Mabuhay ang NPA, and I will not take that back,” Duterte repeated during his Sunday television program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa.”

    But Duterte explained that his commendation of the communist rebel movement was in recognition of its “fair treatment” of “prisoners of war.”

    (...SNIPPED)

Of course, when his daily press conferences have bombastic comments like this, he smacks of a dictator more than president. Here's another example when a political rival threatened to pursue impeachment before Duterte was even elected:

GMA News

Duterte on Trillanes' impeachment threat: I'll close down Congress, be a dictator first

    Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is unfazed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV's pronouncement that the PDP-Laban standard-bearer could be impeached if he wins the presidency over allegations of hidden wealth.

    The tough-talking local executive says he will simply close down Congress if it attempts to impeach him.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Edward Campbell]

My sense is that President Duarte is the "man on a white horse," about whom we all worry so much, for many, many Filipinos.

The Philippines is beset by problems: social, political, economic ... people are sick and tired of a combination of corruption (the Philippines have their own version of our Laurentian Elites and Chrétien style personal real estate deals and sponsorship scandal type polices have, much more often than not, been the norm). President Duterte is, for those who follow US politics closely, a very Sheriff Joe Arpaio type of figure ...

         

... who will bring some "law and order" to a country that is riven by corruption, lawlessness and disorder. I might disagree, but ...  :dunno:

Anyway, I also sense that many Filipinos are sick and tired of thugs, that's what they are really, who are masquerading as Islamic militants, to kidnap and rob at will. They think hope that President Duterte can sort them out, for once and for all, and they are not concerned about how he does it. I was told, over a decade ago, by a retired Philippines Army senior officer that many officers mistrusted US military advice on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism. None of Viet Nam, Central America nor Iraq, he explained, had given them much reason to believe in American doctrine and tactics.

I suspect that President Duterte is more inclined, right now, to look to China for help and advice ... but "help" really should be in quotation marks.

 

[CougarKing]

Duterte is no doubt the Hugo Chavez of Asia, down to his own admiration for Putin:

Canadian Press

Witness says Philippine president ordered killings of 1,000
[The Canadian Press]
September 15, 2016

MANILA, Philippines — A former Filipino militiaman testified before the country's Senate on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was still a city mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead.

Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings, and acknowledged that he himself carried out about 50 deadly assaults as an assassin, including a suspected kidnapper fed to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao del Sur province.

Rights groups have long accused Duterte of involvement in death squads, claims he has denied, even while engaging in tough talk in which he stated his approach to criminals was to "kill them all." Matobato is the first person to admit any role in such killings, and to directly implicate Duterte under oath in a public hearing.

(...SNIPPED)

Philippine Star

‘Constitutional dictatorship’ eyed
September 17, 2016

“What I am saying is, it’s constitutional. You revise the Constitution, give the powers to the President, (the) legislative and executive powers. So in a sense it’s like dictatorship because he has two powers but all of them are constitutional,” Panelo told ANC Thursday. ...

Panelo explained that amending the Constitution to allow Duterte to have expanded powers may address clamor for additional authority invested in the president.

Knowing Duterte, Panelo is optimistic that he will not abuse the additional powers, knowing him to be “a man of integrity beyond corruption, who has a political will and he walks his talk.”

 

[CougarKing]

Duterte continues to create a rift between Washington and Manila while getting closer to China:

Interaksyon

On eve of Phiblex, Duterte vows to end joint military drills with US
By: Agence France-Presse | With InterAksyon.com
September 29, 2016 12:33 AM


HANOI - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he will soon end joint military exercises with the United States, a move that could further dampen relations with its longtime ally after the controversial leader spouted expletives while referring to Barack Obama - remarks he said he personally clarified with the US President in Laos.

Speaking to a raucous crowd at an upscale Hanoi hotel where he kicked off his two-day visit to Vietnam, the foul-mouthed leader said next month's military drills would be the last. 

"I will serve notice to you now, that this will be the last military exercise, jointly Philippines-US, the last one," he said in a rambling speech to several hundred Vietnam-based Filipinos.

(...SNIPPED)

Interaksyon

Duterte to visit China Oct. 20 -21 - sources
By: Charmaine Deogracias, VERA FILES
September 29, 2016 3:16 PM


MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Beijing on Oct. 20 and 21, in what reliable diplomatic sources say is a move to reboot the country’s relations with China amid territorial issues in the South China Sea.

Duterte had earlier announced he is visiting China and Russia but did not give the exact dates.

A meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to set the direction for the revival of warm relations between the two countries, which ebbed following the arrest of Chinese fishermen in Scarborough Shoal off Zambales in April 2012.

The Philippine filing of a suit to nullify China’s nine-dash line territorial claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague further strained relations between the two countries. The Philippines won the case which China snubbed.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

The PI didnt like the Japanese invasion,so will the public accept Chinese occupation ? China would love to operate from the former US bases and deny them to the US.Duerte is probably angling for more US aid in exchange for not giving the PLA access to bases.