President Duterte arrived on Tuesday on a state visit to Cambodia, where a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen will bring together two Southeast Asian leaders known for their tough-guy approach to governing.
The two leaders will witness the signing of memoranda of understanding on cooperation in sports and combating transnational crime. Their talks are also expected to touch on the South China Sea, where the Philippines has a territorial dispute with China, which is Cambodia’s closest ally.
Former President Benigno Aquino III took a combative stand against Beijing, but Duterte has changed his country’s geopolitical orientation, seeking accommodation with China as he distances the Philippines from its traditionally close relations with the United States.
Before his departure from Manila, Duterte said his trip to the Philippines’s neighbors—he will go to Singapore after Cambodia—is in preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit meeting, which the Philippines will host late next year.
Since he became president at the end of June, Duterte has been directing a war on illegal drugs, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of suspected drug dealers and users. Hun Sen has led his country for three decades by directing violence and intimidation at his political opponents.
Duterte, accompanied on his trip by Philippine boxing star and Sen.Manny Pacquiao, will also meet with King Norodom Sihamoni.
Addressing the Filipino community in Cambodia on Tuesday, President Duterte has expressed disdain for corruption anew and repeated his promise to end corrupt activities in the government.
“Corruption it will stop. I will not spare anyone, even friends. It will stop,” Duterte assures the members of the Filipino community.
He urged the Filipino community to help him in the campaign against corruption. “Let us give the Filipinos a respite from corruption,” the President said.
He added that a government complaint office and a number was set up, and the number is 8888. “They can report to me any complaint,” the President said. He also warned of drastic actions against corrupt government employees and officials, and urged them to stop now.
Duterte said he did not mind losing friends to maintain his integrity. The President advised them to be assertive, especially when employees from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and other airport staff ask for pasalubong or take some items from their luggage. He began his speech with how he came to become the Chief Executive. He said he did not really want to run for president .
What convinced him to seek the presidency, he said, was the decades-old Mindanao problem and the gravity of the problem over illegal drugs.
Meanwhile, in an earlier interview with Christopher B. Montero, Philippine ambassador to Cambodia, he expressed confidence that the visit of the President to Cambodia will be productive and fruitful in terms of two major areas of cooperation: tourism and sports.
Tourism management, tourism marketing, and exchange of best practices on conservation of heritage sites are among the subjects of tourism cooperation, according to the ambassador.
In the area of sports, the agenda for cooperation includes exchange of best practices in sports management and training, as well as exchange of sports officials.
“It is expected that they [the leaders of two countries] will reaffirm their commitment to advance our bilateral relations to a higher level,” Montero said.
Two other areas that are being finalized for agreement are related to transnational crimes and labor cooperation, according to Montero.
Cooperation in addressing transnational crimes, such as terrorism, extremism, financial and economic crimes and drug trafficking, will involve the national police institutions from both countries. If the agreement on combating transnational crimes pushes through, it will lend international dimension to President Duterte’s campaign against the drug menace, Montero added. AP, PNA
Image credits: AP