Tillerson to tackle rights issue, Marawi siege in Manila

WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is looking forward to having “robust” talks with Philippine officials on human rights issues and the fighting in Marawi between Islamic State-inspired terrorists and security forces.

This was according to Susan Thornton, acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, as she previewed Tillerson’s upcoming visit to Manila for regional ministerial meetings.

Thornton said US and Filipino officials were still working out the final details of bilateral talks.

Tillerson will also visit Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur during his trip to the region on Aug. 5-9.

In Manila, he will participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, the East Asian Summit, the US-ASEAN ministerial meeting and the Lower Mekong Initiative meeting.

Thornton said the US delegation was looking forward to the trip to Manila partly because of the chance to have a “good, robust bilateral program with the Philippines while we’re there on the margins of the ministerial meetings.”

She made the statement when asked if Tillerson had any plans to meet directly with President Duterte, who was slammed at a US congressional hearing last week for reportedly encouraging extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs.

Thornton said both sides were still working out the final details of the schedule of that bilateral meeting.

“We have a lot of things to talk about, obviously. The Philippines is right now grappling with a very difficult situation in the southern island of Mindanao with the ISIS takeover of one of the cities down there,” she said.

“But certainly, we will be talking about governance, about human rights issues and about how we can increase our economic and other kinds of people-to-people engagement with the Philippines.”

She said the Philippines was one of America’s very important and oldest friends and partners in the region, and “we are looking forward to being able to burnish the relationship and restore those bonds of friendship.”

Thornton said Tillerson would have other bilateral meetings while in Manila, including one with the Chinese.