Closer ties with Russia could bring 'fair' deals from US, Palace says
MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration's effort to seek stronger ties with Russia may impel the United States to give the Philippines fairer deals, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the US may feel "a little insecure" about the stronger ties between Manila and Moscow, which was affirmed during Duterte's recent official visit to Russia.
"As he (Duterte) said, ‘I will maintain our relations with the US.’ I don’t think it will be affected. Perhaps if there is any effect, it would be for the better because US would now feel a little insecure about it; where before we tailor our position with that of the United States," Panelo told ABS-CBN News Channel.
"Apart from that, it should be more open into giving us fair deals," he added.
Panelo cited the Philippines' plan to buy firearms from the US which was opposed by some American lawmakers due to allegations that Duterte is promoting human rights violations. He claimed such there is no such condition when Philippine officials talked to their Russian counterparts about the possible purchase of military equipment.
Aid during Marawi Siege
"Remember the Marawi incident, where the Chinese government and the Russian government gave us rifles, until now, they haven't asked a single… according to the President not even a single toothpick. It’s free," Panelo said, referring to the 2017 terrorist attack in Marawi that prompted Duterte to place Mindanao under martial law.
Russia turned over 5,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and 20 army trucks to the Philippines in a ceremony on October 25, 2017, two days after Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi from Islamic State-linked terrorists.
China, meanwhile, donated around 3,000 rifles and 6 million pieces of ammunition to the Philippines in June 2017 and another 3,000 in October of the same year. The guns were distributed to the Philippine National Police Special Action Force and other police units.
The Duterte administration has played down a maritime dispute with China in favor of seeking closer ties as well as loans and funding for government projects.
READ: Regaining Marawi with foreign aid
In July 2017, the US transferred transferred rockets and munitions to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as support to its counterterrorism operations in Marawi.
According to a US Embassy release at the time, the transfer was made by the Joint United States Military Assistance Group through the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement with the AFP.
The US Embassy reported that officials from the JUSMAG delivered recently 1,040 2.75 inches rocket motors and 992 rockets to the Philippine Air Force.
A month before that, the US also turned over M4 carbines, Glock 21 pistols, M134D Gatling-style machine guns, and M203 grenade launchers to the Philippine Marine Corps to "enhance the PMC’s counterterrorism capabilities, and help protect Philippine Marines actively engaged in counterterrorism operations in the southern Philippines."
The US is a longtime ally of the Philippines and its former colonizer.
Ties sour during Obama administration
The relationship between Manila and Washington became uneasy when Duterte became president in 2016.
The US under then president Barack Obama had criticized the spate of deaths linked to Duterte's war on illegal drugs, an act that the tough-talking Philippine leader regarded as an intrusion into Philippine affairs.
Duterte has denied endorsing extrajudicial killings but has repeatedly ordered policemen to shoot drug suspects who pose danger to their safety.
While Duterte was hostile to Obama, he was friendly to US President Donald Trump, who has expressed support for his anti-drug war. He even described Trump as "a good friend."
Sochi speech
In a speech delivered during the Valdai forum in Sochi last October 3, Duterte said he was not against the US, which he described as a "close friend" of the Philippines.
He also clarified that the issue is not the current global order, but the "actions of certain actors that violate the very principles that underpin this order."
"We are tired of the misguided and self-serving crusades of the few. It is time that they are challenged," Duterte said.
"The Philippines does not ask for special treatment nor favors from its partners. It does not seek exemption from the norms and principles that have kept the peace in our world for decades. What we seek—as I assume what the Russian people and all nations also desire—is fairness, equality, and mutual respect. We want a strengthened rules-based order where countries, big or small, are treated the same," he added.
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