MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the governing policies of the new United States President resemble some of the strategies of President Rodrigo Duterte.
After attending Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Friday (Saturday in Manila), Andanar said that the policies of US President Donald Trump would coincide with President Duterte’s push to promote an independent foreign policy.
“The President of the United States believes in protectionism; ‘America First’…encourages the other nations to serve the interests of their own people. US President Trump and President Duterte share that policy. We have an independent foreign policy, and the Philippine President also subscribes to the fact that it is important that we serve the interests of the Filipinos first,” Andanar in an interview said.
“US President Trump also mentioned that he wanted to stop the carnage of the Americans due to illegal drugs. That is the same policy of our President, so it was very comforting to hear the speech of President Trump. They have the same beliefs as President Duterte,” Andanar added.
He noted that Trump had previously announced that U.S. will not interfere in the foreign policy of foreign countries like the Philippines.
“We can see the progress of a good relationship between the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and the United States President-elect Donald Trump, compared to the past administration of Barack Obama,” Andanar concluded.
Andanar, together with National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., attended the inauguration of United States President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. on Thursday (Friday in Manila).
Meanwhile, Patrick Chuasoto, the Philippine Embassy Charge d’ Affaires, said that the presumption of Trump was an opportunity to improve the bilateral ties between Philippines-United States.
“We view transitions as opportunities to further relations. The US and the Philippines are treaty allies and we are ready to work on bolstering this alliance on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect,” Chuasoto said. (Re-written by MRFB)