Philippines’ Duterte warns US of ‘tit-for-tat’ response

‘Bye bye America,’ said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Saturday to end a military pact with the United States in a “tit-for-tat” response to American aid being deferred because of concerns about his deadly crime war. Duterte reacted angrily to the announcement by the U.S. government this week that a decision on a multi-year aid package potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars had been put off. “Bye bye America,” Duterte said, after threatening to end a 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement that gives the legal framework for US troops in the Philippines. “Tit-for-tat. If you can do this, so do we, it ain’t one-way traffic.” The American Millennium Challenge Corporation announced this week that a decision had been deferred over whether to continue giving aid, after an initial five-year package worth more than $430 million expired in May. “This decision reflects the Board’s significant concerns around rule of law and civil liberties in the Philippines,” U.S. embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina said on Thursday. The U.S. government set up the Millennium Challenge Corporation to promote economic growth and reduce poverty around the world. However countries can only qualify if they “demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, investments in its people, and economic freedom”, according to the corporation’s website. The United States has been a vocal critic of Duterte’s war on drugs, which has claimed about 5,000 lives since he took office in late June, with President Barack Obama urging Duterte to prosecute it “the right… [Read full story]