Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday told the United States to prepare for repeal of an agreement on deployment of troops and equipment for exercises, declaring that America's money could be replaced.
Duterte, however, suggested relations could improve under President-elect Donald Trump. "I like your mouth, it's like mine, yes Mr. President. We are similar and people with the same feathers flock together."
But returning his focus to the present US administration, which has criticised Duterte over reports of extra-judicial killings in his campaign against drugs, he delivered a different message.
"We do not need you," Duterte said in a news conference after arriving from visits to Cambodia and Singapore. "Prepare to leave the Philippines. Prepare for the eventual repeal or abrogation of the VFA."
The Visiting Forces Agreement, signed in 1998, accorded legal status to thousands of US troops who were rotated in the country for military exercises and humanitarian assistance operations.
"Bye, bye America and work on the protocols that will eventually move you out of the Philippines," he said.