‘Bye-bye America’: Philippines’ Duterte tells US over aid package

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday threatened to terminate a pact that allows US troops to visit the Philippines, saying “bye-bye America” as he reacted with rage to what he thought was a US decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights concerns.

A US government aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, said this week that its board deferred a vote on a renewal of the development assistance package for the Philippines “subject to a further review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties”.

The US agency has clearly not voted to scrap or approve the aid package, but Duterte unleashed a barrage of expletives-laden tirade upon his arrival in his southern hometown in Davao after back-to-back visits to Cambodia and Singapore.

“I understand that we have been stricken out of the Millennium Challenge. Well, good, I welcome it,” Duterte said with apparent sarcasm.

“We can survive without American money,” he said. “But you know, America, you might also be put to notice. Prepare to leave the Philippines, prepare for the eventual repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement,” he said, referring to a 1998 accord that governs American forces visiting the Philippines for joint combat exercises.

“You know, tit for tat ... if you can do this, so [can] we. It ain’t a one-way traffic,” Duterte said, adding tauntingly: “Bye-bye America.”

The 71-year-old Duterte, who describes himself as a left-wing politician, has made similar threats before and after taking office in June, but he and his officials have walked back on many of his public statements, causing confusion.