Russia to share intelligence with Philippines
MANILA: Russia’s top security official on Thursday offered the Philippines access to an intelligence database to help it fight crime and militancy, and training for the elite forces assigned to protect President Rodrigo Duterte.
Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council and Vladimir Putin’s top security adviser, made the offer during a meeting between Russian and Philippine security officials in Davao, where he was visiting Duterte at his home city.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Russia had invited the Philippines to join a database-sharing system to help combat trans-national crime and terrorism, which he said could help track militants and their financial transactions.
In an interview with Reuters last week, Lorenzana said there were “very strong” links between IS and militants in the Philippines.
Patrushev’s trip underlines Russia’s intent to capitalise on a radical recalibration of foreign policy under Duterte, who harbours resentment of the Philippines’ deep-rooted ties to the United States.
He praised Putin’s leadership when he met him at an international summit late last year. He also talked at length to Putin about what he called US “hypocrisy”.
Lorenzana said security officials from both sides also discussed law enforcement cooperation, including anti-piracy and anti-narcotics exercises by coastguard and police.
The two countries were working on a military technical cooperation agreement, he said, and Russia offered to provide enhanced training for troops protecting Duterte. Duterte will visit Moscow in May.
“We are keen on signing a defence cooperation agreement,” Lorenzana said of that trip.
Lorenzana said last week Russia was interested in selling military equipment to the Philippines, like drones, helicopters, rifles and submarines.
Meanwhile, a staunch critic of Duterte on Thursday revived allegations of millions of dollars of hidden assets that he said the president had yet to answer, an assertion Duterte’s camp dismissed as a publicity stunt.
Senator Antonio Trillanes released copies of what he said were bank statements from 2006 to 2015, totalling 2.4 billion pesos ($48 million) in numerous accounts, that he said belonged to Duterte and which he had failed to declare before his election last May.
According to the copies Trillanes released, some of the accounts were joint accounts that Duterte held with people close to him, including relatives.
In a radio interview, Duterte’s legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, dismissed the allegations as “old issues” and said Trillanes was “only looking for free publicity”.