‘No official moves to cut ties yet but future breakup with US possible’

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

There were no “official moves” yet to sever ties with the United States, but Malacañang on Wednesday said the Philippines might cut ties with its longtime ally “in the future.”

“That in the future, he might make moves. In the present, there are no moves yet,” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in Palace briefing.

Abella was asked to clarify President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement on Tuesday, saying he would eventually “break up with America.”

“He wants the Philippines to be on equal footing with others whether they are big or not. He wants just an equal footing,” he said.

The Palace official reiterated that Duterte only wanted to have an independent foreign policy amid his statements to cut ties with its allies.

“It is basically expressing an independent foreign policy that it is not exclusive—that it is inclusive. That we are not to be held down by just one treaty,” he said.

He clarified that the President’s remarks of severing ties with the US was not a “definitive yes” or a “definitive no.”

“He said that he might. Okay? Let’s base it on that. He might. It’s not a definitive yes, it’s not a definitive no. He said he might,” he said.

READ: ‘I would break up with America eventually,’ says Duterte

‘Broadening options’

Abella said Duterte was only broadening his options when he said that he “would rather go to Russia or to China” after saying that he would cut ties with the US.

“I don’t think we’re leaning. It’s not a question of leaning more towards Russia and China. It is just that he has expanded his options. It’s a question of broadening his options. It could be anybody else, actually. He is simply broadening his options,” he said.

The President earlier said he would explore alliances with China and Russia as he continued to slam the US and its criticisms against extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in the government’s crackdown on drugs.

Asked about why the President mentioned China and Russia, Abella said the two countries are “giving us respect.”

“You can tell that the tenor is not so much what economic benefits we can get from the country.  But that he is getting respect. And that’s exactly what the president apparently is wanting,” he said.

‘Dignity of Filipino nation’

Abella addressed fears that Duterte’s recent pronouncements of cutting ties with the US would affect the aid the superpower nation was giving the Philippines.

“It’s not so much of the aid that we are after, it is that we want to be received with dignity and not subservient,” he said.

“In other words, the great issue is the dignity that we gave as a Filipino nation, not so much na baka mahirapan tayo (that we would struggle),” he added. CDG