President Rodrigo Duterte targeted deal allowing US troops to visit Philippines amid anger over US aid agency’s delayed vote on assistance package

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The US has said it will work with the Philippine president to address any concerns after he threatened to terminate a pact that allows US troops to visit the Philippines.

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President Rodrigo Duterte was enraged after a US government aid agency deferred a vote on a renewal of a major development assistance package for the Philippines over concerns about extrajudicial killings in Duterte’s war on illegal drugs, which has left thousands dead.

This week, Duterte said he used to personally kill suspected criminals when mayor of Davao city. Senators subsequently said that admission was grounds for impeachment. Duterte said he would continue his crackdown on drug dealers and users.

Although no decision on the aid package has been taken, Duterte on Saturday launched an expletives-laden tirade, telling the US to “prepare to leave the Philippines, prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement”.

He was referring to a 1998 accord that governs American forces visiting the Philippines for joint combat exercises. The pact has helped the Philippines contain a violent Muslim insurgency in the south and train and equip Filipino forces facing an assertive China in disputed South China Sea waters.

“You know, tit for tat … if you can do this, so [can] we. It ain’t a one-way traffic,” Duterte said, adding tauntingly: “Bye-bye America.”

The US embassy in Manila said in a statement that Washington would work closely with the Duterte administration to address any concerns it may have. It did not elaborate.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but spokesman Josh Earnest has said the White House will not react publicly each time Duterte makes an offhand remark.

The 71-year-old Duterte, who describes himself as a leftwing politician, has made similar threats since taking office in June but he and his officials have walked back many of his public statements, causing confusion.

While calling Americans “sons of bitches” and “hypocrites”, Duterte on Saturday praised China as having “the kindest soul of all” for offering what he said was significant financial assistance.

“So what do I need America for?” he asked.

He also said Russia could be a very important ally.

“They do not insult people, they do not interfere,” he said.

The Philippines had been slated for another aid package after its previous five-year, $434m poverty reduction program was successfully completed in May under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.

A spokeswoman for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Laura Allen, said on Thursday it would continue to monitor events in the Philippines before the next board review in March 2017.

The US decision is among the first signs of how concerns about the rule of law and human rights under Duterte could entail economic costs.

The US government, along with European Union and United Nations officials, has raised concerns about Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs, which has left more than 2,000 suspected drug users and dealers dead in purported gun battles with police.

More than 3,000 other deaths are being investigated to determine if they were linked to illegal drugs.

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At a news conference in his southern home town of Davao, Duterte was asked on Saturday how many crime suspects he killed himself while he was a crime-busting city mayor. The former government prosecutor again gave contrasting replies.

“Maybe one, two, three … I’m saying, maybe my bullets hit them, maybe not, but after the burumbumbumbum, they’re all dead,” Duterte said.

Replying to another question, he said that he indeed had killed personally, but did not provide details and tried to justify his act.

“When I tell you now that I killed, do not term them as suspects because all of them died while they were fighting government people,” he said.

He asked God for forgiveness in advance, saying he may not have time to pray if he’s assassinated.

“God, forgive me for killing these idiots,” Duterte said, before blaming God for the presence of criminals.

“You create a human monster, so if you are God, why do you have to create these idiots? That’s why they die.”

Earlier this month, Duterte said he had spoken to the US president-elect, Donald Trump, who he said approved of his war on drugs.