Trump inaugural superb – Duterte

DAVAO CITY – While others were critical of the speech and others became jittery, President Duterte was all praises for Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States.

Duterte said he returned home to Davao City Friday night and made no appointments so he could watch Trump’s inaugural on television.

“It was a very superb ritual and Trump was at his best,” Duterte told The STAR on the sidelines of the reunion of Ateneo de Davao University class of 1961 at the Marco Polo Hotel on Saturday night.

Duterte had said he looks forward to renewed Philippine ties with the US under the Trump administration. This came after Duterte threw profanities at former US president Barack Obama, who criticized his drug war as marked by reports of summary killings and human rights violations.

Duterte also liked Trump’s inaugural address in which he stressed his “America first policy” to “make America great again.”

“Trump was talking from the heart, a very frank person,” Duterte said, adding that he likes people who are brutally frank, unlike people who hide something.

Netizens said Trump is the “American Duterte” because they are both toughtalking. Trump and Duterte are also known for making controversial statements, which often draw flak.

A few days after Trump won in the US presidential race in November 2016, Duterte telephoned to congratulate him.

Duterte said Trump even invited him for coffee should he visit Washington. But at the height of his anger at Obama, Duterte said he would never set foot in America in his lifetime.

Last month, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. claimed that Trump shares the vision of his father and namesake, the late dictator.

In a speech before members of the Philippine Constitutional Association, Marcos said that Trump’s battle cry “make America great again” was similar to the former president’s “this nation will be great again” spiel in the inaugural speech delivered in December 1965.