President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Saturday to end a pact that permits US troops to visit the Philippines, saying “bye-bye America” as he reacted with rage to what he thought was a US decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights concerns.
A US government aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, said earlier in the week that its board postponed a vote on a renewal of the development aid package for the Philippines “subject to a further review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.”
The agency has clearly not voted to scrap or approve the assistance package, but Duterte unleashed an expletives-laden speech upon his arrival in his southern hometown of Davao after back-to-back visits to Cambodia and Singapore.
“I understand that we have been stricken out of the Millennium Challenge. Well, good, I welcome it,” Duterte said with apparent sarcasm.
“We can survive without American money,” he said.
“But you know, America, you might also be put to notice. Prepare to leave the Philippines, prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement,” he said, referring to a 1998 accord that leads American forces visiting the Philippines for joint combat exercises.
“You know, tit for tat … if you can do this, so (can) we. It ain’t a one-way traffic,” Duterte said, adding, “Bye-bye America.”
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