MANILA—Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday that President Donald Trump deserved to be reelected, praising the Trump’s reaction to his decision to end a decades-old military agreement with the United States.
“It is President Trump’s circumspect and judicious reaction to the termination of the VFA that made President Duterte give the following remarks: ‘President Trump is a good president and he deserves to be re-elected,’” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
The VFA is important to the overall U.S.-Philippines alliance and sets out rules for U.S. soldiers operating in the Philippines, a former U.S. territory.
The Philippine military chief, armed forces commander General Felimon Santos, has backed Duterte’s termination of the 1998 VFA, saying that doing so would allow the Philippines to expand its modernization program and its engagement with Australia and Japan—both U.S. allies.
Trump has frequently expressed a desire to bring U.S. military forces home from decades-long deployments abroad and has strong-armed some allies into paying more for the right to U.S. defense.
Trump has said that the United States helped the Philippines defeat ISIS terrorists.
In his comments about the VFA on Wednesday, Trump added that he had “a very good” relationship with Duterte.
Duterte’s decision was sparked by the revocation of a U.S. visa held by a former police chief who led his bloody war on drugs.
Some Philippine lawmakers hope the VFA can be saved in the 180 days before the termination takes effect, and expressed concern that without it, two other U.S. military agreements will become useless.
