Duterte reveals terrorism main issue in summit

Philippine President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte revealed that terrorism as well as its regional and global implications were the main issue tackled by the summit of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and their dialogue partners including the US, China, Japan, Russia and Australia.

“Half of the time during the interventions actually was the issue of terrorism,” Duterte told a media brieing at the closing ceremonies of the summit hosted by the Philippines on Tuesday night.

“Everybody’s scared,” Duterte pointed out, “with the new vogue of dying just suddenly in the explosion of any, whatever.”

He cited as an example the case of the Daesh-linked terrorists who laid siege to Marawi City in Mindanao in which the leaders have agreed to strengthen their co-operation and defense against terrorism.

But the president did not elaborate, citing the conidentiality of the actions which the summit participants had adopted as he explained: “These are things which I cannot really talk about in public.”

In the wide-ranging media interview, Duterte also admitted he took it as an “oficial and personal insult” the issue of human rights raised by Canadian Prime Minister Justin during their one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the Asean summit and their dialogue partners.

“It is an oficial and personal insult. That is why you hear me chewing down curses and expletives,” Duterte said as he stressed that foreigners were unaware of the situation on the ground.

Besides, the president pointed out that he was the only one answerable to the Filipino people for alleged human rights violations including extra-judicial killings that have arisen from his bloody and brutal war on illegal drugs and criminality.

Duriing the closing ceremonies of the summit, Duterte also turned over to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong the chairmanship of the 10-member Asean for 2018.

In his speech, Lee assured that Singapore would provide and uphold a rules-based regional order so that Asean could better deal with emerging security challenges.

The Philippines and Singapore are acknowledged as the “Original 5” of the Asean along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, with the regional bloc now composed of 10 members including Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).