Duterte wants to end military drills with US

The brash, controversial president made his comments on Thursday during his two-day trip to Vietnam, where he wants to strengthen bilateral ties as both countries seek to counter China.

"I will serve notice to you now, that this will be the last military exercise, jointly Philippines-US, the last one," Duterte said to a crowd of Filipino supporters at a Hanoi hotel, referring to planned drills to be held next month.

He said he was following through with the Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex), to be held from October 4 through 12, because of the 1951 defense treaty signed by the two countries.

Strained ties

In April, the US and the Philippines engaged in the much larger Balikatan joint military drills, which saw the participation of some 8,000 forces from both sides, amid growing tension between China and other countries in the region.

Relations between Washington and Manila have been strained in recent months, with Duterte fanning the flames by threatening to eject US special forces from the country's south and going on profanity-laced tirades against President Barack Obama and others.

Earlier in September, the Philippine president referred to Obama as a "son of a whore" in front of a pool of reporters,prompting the US president to cancel his meeting with Duterte while attending the summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos.

Repeated insults

Duterte later apologized for the comment. "While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," he said in a statement. That comment came shortly after he reportedly called US Ambassador Philip Goldberg a "gay son of a whore."

The president has grown increasingly defensive over his ongoing anti-drug campaign, which has led to the deaths of some 3,500 people. Following criticism of his tactics by the European Parliament, Duterte launched on another profanity-laced tirade against Brussels. "I say to them, [expletive] you. You're doing it in atonement for your sins," he said in the city of Davao.

"I am the favorite whipping boy now of the human rights [groups] all over the world," he told the boisterous crowd in Hanoi.

blc/es  (AP, AFP)