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DFA Chief Cayetano: Senator Trillanes Seeking US Help To Topple Duterte Gov’t


Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday, October 19, assailed former colleague, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, for campaigning against the Duterte administration among some US politicians.

For his part, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella expressed hopes that Senator Trillanes shared accurate information about the Philippines with Senator Marco Rubio.

Senator Trillanes has left for the United States and met with Senator Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida who had expressed concern about the drug killings in the Philippines.

Secretary Cayetano said Senator Trillanes had also been critical of past presidents when he was a member of Congress, but claimed that he drew the line at toppling the government.

“I worked with Senator Trillanes in the past and you know my respect to the Senate as an institution. All I can say is, although it’s a free world, it doesn’t help the country where there’s misinformation, disinformation, especially false information,” Senator Cayetano told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“Even when I was a staunch critic of some presidents, I’ve never gone abroad to ask for help to topple them,” he said.

“That’s the speculation now, but the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) doesn’t deal with speculation. Unless we have confirmation, we will assume that is in good faith and that is a normal engagement,” he added.

Senator Trillanes, a fierce critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, has reportedly been connecting with some of the senators whom Secretary Cayetano tried to meet during his recent month-long stay in Washington DC and New York City.

Senator Rubio confirmed his meeting with Senator Trillanes on his Twitter account, and said they discussed Philippine-US alliance, the fight against corruption, and the protection of human rights amid the narcotics crisis.

Commenting on the meeting, Abella stated, “We do hope that the correct information has been given and not biased information designed to adversely affect US-Philippine relations.”

Secretary Cayetano said he had requested a meeting with Senator Rubio, but the senator was busy attending to the aftermath of a hurricane in Florida.

“Trillanes is going to the same people we offered to engage with to show them the real numbers and get their staffers to meet our staffers and talk about it,” Secretary Cayetano said.

Senator Rubio was one of two legislators who earlier introduced a bill to restrict the supply of defense equipment to the Philippine National Police amid concerns on the drug killings in the country.

“America and the Philippines have an important and enduring alliance, which is why the growing number of extrajudicial killings as part of the Philippine National Police’s ‘war on drugs’ is deeply alarming,” the US senator had earlier said.

Source: INQUIRER
DFA Chief Cayetano: Senator Trillanes Seeking US Help To Topple Duterte Gov’t DFA Chief Cayetano: Senator Trillanes Seeking US Help To Topple Duterte Gov’t Reviewed by Yen on October 23, 2017 Rating: 5

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