Duterte And Trump Ooze Admiration And Love For Each Other

President Donald Trump, known for his tweets, was the subject of one himself on Wednesday when Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said in a tweet that POTUS had told him that he “loves” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whom he called “Frank Sinatra.”

The tweet reads, “I shook his [Trump’s] hand, he looked straight at me and said, ‘Say hi to Frank Sinatra… You know who I mean?’ I remembered — Duterte joined Pilita Corales [a Filipino pop singer, songwriter, actress, comedian and television presenter] in [a] song at [the] ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). ‘I love that guy.”

Duterte’s spokesperson Salvador Panelo, perhaps surprised and amused at the exchange between Locsin and Trump, responded, “I think he [Duterte] loves him too.” In what was taken to be a reciprocal statement of admiration.

In 2017, Duterte did sing at Trump’s request during the ASEAN gala dinner at the Mall of Asia SMX Convention Center.

Panelo went on to say the two leaders shared “mutual admiration” due to their similar leadership styles and added that Duterte was an “original” and not a copy of Trump. Speaking partly in his native language, Panelo said, “Let me tell you this, you know if you recall, the style of the President came much earlier than Trump. Before Trump, there was Duterte. We are all surprised that their style is the same. Of course, if you have the same style you will have a mutual admiration.”

The history between the two countries dates back to 1898 when the Philippines became a U.S. colony after the Spanish American War. The Filipino’s resisted what they called American imperialism resulting in the Philippine American War that officially ended in 1902 but with skirmishes lasting a few years more.

The relationship was cemented during and after WW2 as Filipino and American troops suffered at the hands of the Japanese. The Philippines were granted independence in 1946 and the two nations have maintained a close relationship ever since.

Duterte and Trump do have a similar persona with their tough-talk and throwing insults at their foes. They won their respective presidencies in 2016 by campaigns marked with populist fury against political elites and many controversial remarks.

Former President Barack Obama was one of Duterte’s drug war critics. Duterte called Obama “son of a whore” and threatened to cut ties with the country’s longtime ally but this all seemed to be forgotten when Trump took office in 2017. The relationship recuperated under Trump, whom Duterte regarded as his “friend.”

How the “love-fest” plays out will depend on how Duterte plays his hand with China and Russia, Malacañang (the presidential mansion in Manila often used as a metonym for the president) ) insisted that Duterte’s pivot to non-traditional Philippine allies Russia and China did not affect the longstanding Philippine-U.S. relationship.