Duterte Wants US Troops To Leave Mindanao

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that he wanted the United States Special Forces out of Mindanao.

In a speech before his new appointees at the Heroes Hall in Malacañang Palace, Duterte said he doesn’t want a rift with the US but their troops “have to go.”

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (sunstar photo)

“In Mindanao, maraming mga puti roon, they have to go. I-review ko iyang foreign policy. Hindi ko lang masalita noon out of respect or I do not want a rift with America. But they have to go,” the president said.

Duterte said that terror group Abu Sayyaf will kill American soldiers, either he’s black or white as long as they’re American.

“Mas lalong iinit. Makakita ng Amerikano 'yan, patayin talaga iyan. Kukunan ng ransom iyan, patayin. Even if you're a black or a white American, basta Amerikano ka,” he added.

The president also said: “Look at the bodies there. Paano tayo, paano mag-hold-up. For as long as we stay with American, we will never have peace in that land. We might as well give it up.”

As part of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which was signed by both the governments of the Philippines and the US, presence of American soldiers was felt in Mindanao.

Moreover, Duterte also showed photos of the Bud Dajo massacre in 1906, wherein American troops slain 600 Muslims, in front of his new appointees.

The same images were showed during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos, in the presence of US President Barack Obama. The move of Duterte shocked diplomats and international leaders.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that the statement of Duterte reflected his “new direction towards coursing an independent foreign policy.”

Abella, in a statement, said that “he (Duterte) has made reference to the unrecognized, unrepented and un-atoned for massacre at Bud Dajo in Sulu by the Americans, hence our continued connection with West is the real reason for the ‘Islamic’ threat in Mindanao.”

Source: GMA News